[Pentoxifylline promotes learning and memory function of aging rats and mice with induced memory impairment].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the effects of pentoxifylline on rats and mice with learning and memory dysfunctions.


METHODS
Morris water maze test was used to observe the effects of pentoxifylline on learning and memory of naturally aging rats, and jumping stand test was performed to examine its effects in promoting the learning and memory functions in mice with scopolamine- and ethanol-induced memory dysfunctions.


RESULTS
In aging rats, pentoxifylline at high, moderate and low doses all significantly reduced the latency of platform finding in the place navigation test (P<0.01 or P<0.05 ), and increased the quadrant searching frequency in the spatial probe test (P<0.05). Pentoxifylline at the 3 doses significantly increased the latency of electrification (P<0.01 or P<0.05) and decreased the times of error (P<0.05) of the mice as compared with scopolamine- treated group. Pentoxifylline also improved ethanol-induced memory dysfunction in the mice, but the changes in the performance of the mice were not statistically significant.


CONCLUSIONS
Pentoxifylline can improve the learning and memory abilities of rats and mice.
Hu
Rui
R
Department of Pharmacology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710061, China. hu_xiaorui@163.com
Yuan
Bing-xiang
BX
Su
Lian-zhen
LZ
Wei
Xia-zhen
XZ
Zhao
Li-mei
LM
Kang
Jun
J
Chen
Dong
D
D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects; D000431:Ethanol; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000187:drug effects*; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects*; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000139:chemically induced*; D051379:Mice; D010431:Pentoxifylline / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012601:Scopolamine
D000431:Ethanol; D012601:Scopolamine; D010431:Pentoxifylline