title: Apomorphine effects on episodic memory in young healthy volunteers.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Dopamine (DA) modulates working memory. However, the relation between DA systems and episodic (declarative) memory is less established. Frontal lobe DA function may be involved. We were interested in assessing whether apomorphine (Apo), a drug used extensively in clinical research as a probe of DA function, has an effect on episodic memory test performance in healthy volunteers.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the effect of a presynaptic dose of Apo on episodic memory tests and on other tests thought to be sensitive to frontal lobe functions.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty healthy subjects were treated with Apo HCl (5 microg/kg sc) or placebo (10 subjects/group) in a randomized, double blind parallel group design and performance on a battery of cognitive tests was assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Apomorphine significantly impaired performance on tests of source recognition (d.f.=19, p=0.05) and item recognition memory (d.f.=19, p<0.05), and memory interference (d.f.=19, p<0.010). No significant change was found on other tests (Go/no-Go Test, Categorized Words, Stroop, Trail Making Test, and verbal fluency).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Findings in this small sample of subjects suggest that dopaminergic transmission affects episodic memory functions.
authors.affiliation: Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Verdun, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: Alonso
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Montoya
authors.forename: Samarthji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lal
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Menear
authors.forename: Elisabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Duplessis
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Thavundayil
authors.forename: Norbert
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Schmitz
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lepage
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D001058:Apomorphine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018491:Dopamine Agonists / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D018491:Dopamine Agonists; D001058:Apomorphine