Glucose administration attenuates hypothermia-induced retrograde amnesia in rats in a time- and dose-dependent manner

Abstract

It is well established that posttraining administrations of glucose enhance memory in a time- and dose-dependent manner. More recently, glucose has also been found to attenuate scopolamine-induced anterograde amnesia, displaying the same time- and dose-response characteristics (Stone et al., 1988). In the present study, the use of glucose as an agent for alleviation of hypothermia-induced retrograde amnesia was examined. In each experiment, animals were given a single trial of passive avoidance conditioning. Retrograde amnesia was induced through hypothermia immediately following training. All injections were given immediately following hypothermia treatment, and tests for fear retention were administered 24 h following training. In Experiment 1, the dose-response effects of glucose (10, 100, or 400 mg/kg) were examined; in Experiment 2, the time-dependent effect of 100 mg/kg of glucose administered immediately, 1, or 2 h after hypothermia was examined. The results show that glucose injections attenuate retrograde amnesia in both a dose- and time-dependent manner. These results coincide with the growing body of evidence supporting the memory-modulating effects of glucose.