Abstract
Rats were trained in a food-rewarded lever-pressing task until they could complete an FR10 requirement within the first 120 s of the session, and were tested for the retention of this response requirement after having reached this criterion. The pharmacological treatment instituted at the time of tests was either the same as or different from that used during acquisition. In this state-dependency (StD) procedure, saline-to-drug as well as drug-to-saline state changes produced robust failures to transfer with chlordiazepoxide (CDP) and also with yohimbine. Diazepam substituted for, while Ro 15-1788 antagonised, CDP; none of several non-benzodiazepine compounds substituted for CDP. Neither food deprivation nor extensive overtraining after CDP prevented the failure of transfer when animals were tested for drug-to-saline transfer. Another series of experiments evaluated the effects of CDP and diazepam in a rat conflict procedure. The doses at which CDP and diazepam produced anti-conflict effects were similar to those at which failure to transfer occurred in saline-to-drug state changes, and higher than those at which such failure occurred in drug-to-saline state changes. With benzodiazepines, StD of memory retrieval conceivably constitutes a parsimonious explanation of the anxiolytic and untoward (amnesic, drug dependence) actions of these drugs.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Balster RL (1985) Behavioral studies of tolerance and dependence. In: Seiden LS, Balster RL (eds) Behavioral pharmacology: the current status. Liss, New York, pp 403–418
Carlton PL (1983) A primer of behavioral pharmacology. Freeman, New York
Colpaert FC (1986) A method for quantifying state-dependency with chlordiazepoxide in rats. Pyschopharmacology 90:144–146
Colpaert FC, Janssen PAJ (1982) Factors regulating drug cue sensitivity: limits of discriminability and the role of a progressively decreasing training dose in cocaine-saline discrimination. Neuropharmacology 21:1187–1194
Colpaert FC, Shearman GT (1988) Tolerance, endorphins and other aspects of opiate drug discrimination. In: Rodgers RJ, Cooper SJ (eds) Endorphins, opiates and behavioural processes. Wiley, London, pp 77–105
Colpaert FC, Niemegeers CJE, Janssen PAJ (1976) Theoretical and methodological considerations on drug discrimination learning. Psychopharmacologia 46:169–177
Cook L, Davidson AB (1973) Effects of behaviorally active drugs in a conflict-punishment procedure in rats. In: Garattini S, Mussini E, Randall O (eds) The benzodiazepines. Raven Press, New York, pp 327–345
Cook L, Sepinwall J (1975) Psychopharmacological parameters of emotion. In: Levi L (ed) Emotions-their parameters and measurement. Raven Press, New York, pp 327–345
Geller I, Seifter J (1960) The effects of meprobamate, barbiturates,d-amphetamine and promazine on experimentally induced conflict in the rat. Psychopharmacologia 1:482–492
Hart M (1980) Ratten. Amsterdam Wetenschappelijke Uitgeverij, Amsterdam
Hunheler W, Mohler H, Pieri L, Polc P, Bonetti EP, Cumin R, Schaffner R, Haefely W (1981) Selective antagonists of benzodiazepines. Nature 290:514–516
Lister RG (1985) The amnesic action of benzodiazepines in man. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 9:87–94
Martin WR, Wikler A, Eades CG, Pexcor FR (1963) Tolerance to and physical dependence on morphine in rats. Psychopharmacologia 4:247–260
Meert TF, Colpaert FC (1986) The shock probe conflict procedure. A new assay responsive to benzodiazepines, barbiturates and related compounds. Psychopharmacology 88:445–450
Miller NE (1955) Learnable drives and rewards. In: Stevenson SS (ed) Handbook of experimental psychology. Wiley, New York, pp 435–472
Mowrer OH (1939) A stimulus-response analysis of anxiety and its role as a reinforcing agent. Psychol Rev 46:553–566
Overton D (1966) State-dependent learning produced by depressant and atropine-like drugs. Psychopharmacologia 10:6–31
Overton D (1982a) Memory retrieval failures produced by changes in drug state. In: Isaacson RL, Spear NE (eds) The expression of knowledge; neurobehavioral transformation of information into action. Plenum Press, New York, pp 113–139
Overton D (1982b) Comparison of the degree of discriminability of various drugs using the T-maze drug discrimination paradigm. Psychopharmacology 76:385–395
Overton D (1983) State-dependent learning and drug discrimination. In: Iversen LL, Iversen SD, Snyder SH (eds) Handbook of psychopharmacology, vol 18. Plenum Press, New York, pp 59–127
Sepinwall J, Cook L (1978) Behavioral pharmacology of anti-anxiety drugs. In: Iversen LL, Iversen SD, Snyder SH (eds) Handbook of psychopharmacology, vol 13. Biology of mood and anti-anxiety drugs. Plenum Press, New York, pp 345–393
Siegel S (1956) Nonparametric statistics for the behavioral sciences. McGraw-Hill, New York
Stolerman IP, Shine PJ (1985) Trends in drug discrimination research analysed with a cross-indexed bibliography, 1982–1983. Psychopharmacology 85:1–11
Tallarida RJ, Murray RB (1987) Manual of pharmacologic calculations with computer programs, 2nd edn. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York
Tatum AL, Seevers MH, Collins KH (1929) Morphine addiction and its physiological interpretation based on experimental evidence. J Pharmacol, 36:447–475
Weingartner H (1978) Human state-dependent learning. In: Ho BT, Richards DW III, Chute DL (eds) Drug discrimination and state dependent learning. Academic Press, New York, pp 363–383
Weingartner H (1985) Models of memory dysfunction. Ann NY Acad Sci 444:359–369
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Colpaert, F.C. Amnesic trace locked into the benzodiazepine state of memory. Psychopharmacology 102, 28–36 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02245740
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02245740