Mg. Griffin et Gt. Taylor, NOREPINEPHRINE MODULATION OF SOCIAL MEMORY - EVIDENCE FOR A TIME-DEPENDENT FUNCTIONAL RECOVERY OF BEHAVIOR, Behavioral neuroscience, 109(3), 1995, pp. 466-473
We tested the hypothesis that central nervous system (CNS) norepinephr
ine (NE) modulates the ability of an adult male rat to remember signif
icant novel stimuli. Behavioral tests evaluated NE effects on general
exploration and social memory. Results were that neither depletion nor
elevation of NE impaired general exploration. Findings from the socia
l memory setting suggested that animals tested 2 weeks after NE deplet
ion were unable to discriminate novel from familiar juveniles in situa
tions where untreated controls had no difficulty. Elevation of CNS NE,
conversely, produced improved discrimination performance compared wit
h control animals. Results suggest that activation of the CNS NE syste
m is involved in the memory for novel stimuli. Performance of the NE-d
epleted group tested 3 months after treatment indicates a time-depende
nt functional recovery can occur in the presence of virtually total CN
S NE depletion.