Post-training amphetamine administration enhances memory consolidation in appetitive Pavlovian conditioning: Implications for drug addiction.

Full Abstract

It has been suggested that some of the addictive potential of psychostimulant drugs of abuse such as amphetamine may result from their ability to enhance memory for drug-related experiences through actions on memory consolidation. This experiment examined whether amphetamine can specifically enhance consolidation of memory for a Pavlovian association between a neutral conditioned stimulus (CS-a light) and a rewarding unconditioned stimulus (US-food), as Pavlovian conditioning of this sort plays a major role in drug addiction. Male Long-Evans rats were given six training sessions consisting of 8 CS presentations followed by delivery of the food into a recessed food cup. After the 1st, 3rd, and 5th session, rats received subcutaneous injections of amphetamine (1.0 or 2.0 mg/kg) or saline vehicle immediately following training. Conditioned responding was assessed using the percentage of time rats spent in the food cup during the CS relative to a pre-CS baseline period. Both amphetamine-treated groups showed significantly more selective conditioned responding than saline controls. In a control experiment, there were no differences among groups given saline, 1.0 or 2.0 mg/kg amphetamine 2 h post-training, suggesting that immediate post-training amphetamine enhanced performance specifically through actions on memory consolidation rather than through non-mnemonic processes. This procedure modeled Pavlovian learning involved in drug addiction, in which the emotional valence of a drug reward is transferred to neutral drug-predictive stimuli such as drug paraphernalia. These data suggest that amphetamine may contribute to its addictive potential through actions specifically on memory consolidation.

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Author information

Author/s: Simon, Nicholas W (NW); Setlow, Barry (B);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4235, USA.

Grants: DA018764 (Agency:NIDA NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Comparative Study; Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Neurobiology of learning and memory (Neurobiol Learn Mem), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-Nov; vol 86 (issue 3) : pp 305-10

Dates: Created 2006/10/02; Completed 2006/12/07; Revised 2007/11/14;

PMID: 16750404, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Amphetamine - administration & dosage
Analysis of Variance
Animals
Appetitive Behavior - drug effects; physiology
Association Learning - drug effects; physiology
Central Nervous System Stimulants - administration & dosage
Conditioning, Classical - drug effects; physiology
Drug Administration Schedule
Male

Male
Motor Activity - drug effects
Random Allocation
Rats
Rats, Long-Evans
Reinforcement (Psychology)
Retention (Psychology) - drug effects; physiology
Statistics, Nonparametric
Substance-Related Disorders - physiopathology; psychology

Associated Chemicals: Central Nervous System Stimulants (0) ; Amphetamine (300-62-9)

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