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Dose-dependent effects of heroin on memory in two inbred strains of mice

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Abstract

Heroin was administered to DBA/2 and C57BL/6 mice, trained in the five-choice Yerkes-Thompson-Bryant-Bovet-Nitti apparatus for pattern discrimination, in two sets of experiments. In a first set, pretrial administrations of heroin (0.1, 0.25, or 0.5 mg/kg) improved performance in both strains. In a second set, heroin (0.5 mg/kg) immediately following each training session were followed by performance improvements in both strains, while the performance of C57 mice was improved and that of the DBA mice was impaired by 5 mg/kg of opiate. No effect was evident in this set of experiments when heroin was injected 2 h after each session, suggesting that effects of the pretrial treatments were due to influences of the opiate on the consolidation processes of the strains tested.

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Castellano, C. Dose-dependent effects of heroin on memory in two inbred strains of mice. Psychopharmacology 67, 235–239 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00431262

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