Opiate antagonists enhance the working memory of rats in the radial maze
Abstract
Two experiments tested the influence of the opiate antagonists naloxone and naltrexone on the spatial working memory of rats in a 12-arm radial maze. In Experiment 1, ten rats were serially forced to visit six randomly selected arms, then were removed from the maze for delays of either 30, 60, or 240 minutes, and then returned to the maze for a free-choice memory test with all 12 arms available. Five minutes into the delay, rats were injected intraperitoneally (IP) with either physiological saline or naloxone (1 mg/kg). When injected with naloxone the rats revisited forced-choice arms less often than when injected with saline during a subsequent free-choice test. In Experiment 2, twelve rats showed a similar facilitation of working memory when injected with the opiate antagonists naltrexone (0.3 mg/kg) and naloxone (1 mg/kg) in comparison to a saline control condition. These findings demonstrate the beneficial effects that opiate antagonists exert on working memory-based performance in the radial maze. They may also resolve conflicting reports about the influence of opiate antagonists on radial maze performance, by suggesting that the choice of measurement and testing conditions are crucial for detecting these effects in working memory procedures.
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Opioid receptor antagonists facilitate memory performance.
“Importantly, opioid receptor antagonists appear to reverse the effects of opioid agonists (Ukai et al., 1997;Zhu et al., 2011), and even facilitate memory performance (Canli et al., 1990;Gallagher et al., 1983).”
From A review of the relation between dissociation, memory, executive functioning and social cognition in military members and civilians with neuropsychiatric conditions (2016) · cites this paper as Canli et al., 1990
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Opiate antagonists improve spatial memory
Gallagher, M., King, R. A., & Young, N. B. (1983) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.6879198 · Cited by 159 · see citing works
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Cannabinoids, opioids and eating behavior: The molecular face of hedonism?
Cota, D., Tschöp, M. H., Horvath, T. L., & Levine, A. S. (2006) · Brain Research Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.brainresrev.2005.10.004 · Cited by 330 · see citing works
Addictive drugs as reinforcers: multiple partial actions on memory systems
WHITE, N. M. (1996) · Addiction · doi:10.1111/j.1360-0443.1996.tb03586.x · Cited by 439 · see citing works
McKinnon, M. C., Boyd, J. E., Frewen, P. A., Lanius, U. F., Jetly, R., Richardson, J. D., & Lanius, R. A. (2016) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2016.07.017 · Cited by 94 · see citing works
“Importantly, opioid receptor antagonists appear to reverse the effects of opioid agonists (Ukai et al., 1997; Zhu et al., 2011), and even facilitate memory performance (Canli et al., 1990; Gallagher et al., 1983).”
- Authors
- Canli, T., Cook, R. G., & Miczek, K. A.
- Affiliations
- Tufts University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Canli, Turhan
- Venue
- Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 1990-07
- Volume
- 36
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 521-525
- ISSN
- 0091-3057 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2025845893
- Cited by
- 62
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 3 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 2 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 1.42
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- U.S. Public Health Service
- National Institute on Drug Abuse (DA-02632, R01DA002632)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuropeptides and Animal Physiology
- Keywords
- opioid antagonists, naloxone, naltrexone, spatial working memory, radial maze, memory enhancement, rats
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Male, Memory, Memory, Short-Term, Naloxone, Naltrexone, Retention, Psychology, Rats
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