SUBCLINICAL DOSAGES OF LITHIUM AND PILOCARPINE THAT DO NOT EVOKE OVERT SEIZURES AFFECT LONG-TERM SPATIAL MEMORY BUT NOT LEARNING IN RATS

After training in an automated radial maze, 11 male rats were injected with either ''subclinical'' dosages of lithium and pilocarpine or sal ine and then tested 5 days or 4 months later. When employed as their o wn controls or when compared with a saline-injected reference group, t he rats that had received the lithium and pilocarpine displayed memory deficits but not learning deficits after the longest of the two delay s (effect size was 41%). These results suggest that subtle disruptions in memory but not learning to criterion could be associated with ''su bclinical electrical seizures'' or the micromorphological changes asso ciated with this activity.