Abstract

The present experiments were undertaken to study whether pharmacological activation of the noradrenergic system would improve age-related deficits in short-term memory. Thus, we investigated the effects the single dose administration (0.1, 0.3, 0.9 and 2.7 mg/kg, subcutaneously) or atipamezole, a specific alpha-2 adrenoceptor antagonist, had on the performance of young and aged rats in a delayed nonmatching to position task. After substantial training, aged rats made more errors at longer delays (4-30 seconds) than did young rats, although the percent correct responses at short delays (0-2 seconds) did not differ between young and aged rats. Atipamezole (0.1-0.9 mg/kg) did not improve the performance of young and aged rats in this task. Moreover, the highest dose (2.7 mg/kg) used increased the number of omissions and increased the latency to collect food pellets, indicating disruption of the performance of rats in this task. According to the present results, alpha-2 antagonist (administered peripherally at a single dose), which increases the release of noradrenaline, did not improve age-related deficit in short-term memory in rats.

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