title: Moderate stress enhances memory persistence: are adrenergic mechanisms involved?
abstract: Memory persistence in the inhibitory avoidance (IA) task has been recently shown to require a new event of consolidation 12 hr after acquisition. The immobilization stress (IS) model is largely used to study the effects of stress on memory. In this study we investigated the interactions between stress by immobilization and its effect on the persistence of memory, and also a possible effect mediated by β-adrenergic modulation of stress on memory persistence. An enhancement of long-term memory (LTM) persistence caused by stress through immobilization applied 12 hr after IA training was observed when the animals were submitted to 15 min or 1 hr of IS, but not to 3 hr. The reversal of this memory enhancement caused by IS was observed when the β-adrenergic antagonist propranolol was infused intraperitoneally prior to stress, which implies that β-adrenergic receptors are involved in stress enhancement of LTM persistence.
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Neurociências, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do rio Grande(FURG), Rio Grande, Brazil.
authors.forename: Gustavo Morrone
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Parfitt
authors.forename: Ândrea Kraemer
authors.initials: ÂK
authors.lastname: Barbosa
authors.forename: Renan Costa
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Campos
authors.forename: André Peres
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Koth
authors.forename: Daniela Martí
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Barros
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D011433:Propranolol / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D011943:Receptors, Adrenergic, beta / Q000502:physiology*; D012149:Restraint, Physical; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000502:physiology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000503:physiopathology*
chemical_list: D011943:Receptors, Adrenergic, beta; D011433:Propranolol