title: Gamma-hydroxybutyric acid-induced cognitive deficits in the female adolescent rat.
abstract: gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB), a "club drug," is abused for its euphoric, sedative, and anabolic effects. GHB use and abuse is most prevalent among adolescents and young adults. Most GHB users report amnesia. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that GHB treatment in female adolescent rats causes deficits in spatial learning and memory. Adolescent female rats were treated daily with GHB (100 mg/kg) for 5 consecutive days. Control rats received isovolumetric saline. Experimental and control rats were tested in the hidden platform task (reference memory) of the Morris water maze. GHB-treated adolescent female rats had significantly longer latencies than saline-treated controls, and in the probe trial drug-treated rats spent less time in the quadrant where the platform was present prior to its removal than did control adolescent rats. Together, these data indicate that GHB exposure in adolescent female rats has a negative impact on spatial learning and memory.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Neurology,and Pathology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Ratna
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sircar
authors.forename: Ashim
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Basak
authors.forename: Debashish
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sircar
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000139:chemically induced*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006885:Hydroxybutyrates / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000187:drug effects*; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects*; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013037:Spatial Behavior / Q000187:drug effects*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D006885:Hydroxybutyrates; C111420:4-hydroxybutyric acid