title: Methylphenidate enhances acquisition and retention of spatial memory.
abstract: Psychostimulants containing methylphenidate (MPH) are increasingly being used both on and off-label to enhance learning and memory. Still, almost no studies have investigated MPH's ability to specifically improve spatial or long-term memory. Here we examined the effect of training with 1 or 10mg/kg MPH on hidden platform learning in the Morris water maze. 10mg/kg MPH improved memory acquisition and retention, while 1mg/kg MPH improved memory retention. Taken together with prior evidence that low, clinically relevant, doses of MPH (0.01-1mg/kg MPH) enhance fear memory we conclude that MPH broadly enhances memory.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Cognition Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego 92093-0109, United States.
authors.forename: Stephanie A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Carmack
authors.affiliation: Molecular Cognition Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego 92093-0109, United States.
authors.forename: Carina L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Block
authors.affiliation: Molecular Cognition Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego 92093-0109, United States.
authors.forename: Kristin K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Howell
authors.affiliation: Molecular Cognition Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego 92093-0109, United States; Program in Neurosciences, University of California, San Diego 92093-0109, United States. Electronic address: stephana@ucsd.edu.
authors.forename: Stephan G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Anagnostaras
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000187:drug effects; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects*; D008774:Methylphenidate / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051379:Mice; D009949:Orientation / Q000187:drug effects*; D012153:Retention, Psychology / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants; D008774:Methylphenidate
keywords: Cognitive enhancement; Fear conditioning; Hippocampus; Mouse; Psychostimulant; Water maze