title: [Pentoxifylline promotes learning and memory function of aging rats and mice with induced memory impairment].
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710061, China. hu_xiaorui@163.com
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Bing-xiang
authors.initials: BX
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Lian-zhen
authors.initials: LZ
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: Xia-zhen
authors.initials: XZ
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Li-mei
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Dong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D000431:Ethanol; D012601:Scopolamine; D010431:Pentoxifylline