Aniracetam does not improve working memory in neurologically healthy pigeons

Understanding the effects of cognitive enhancing drugs is an important area of research. Much of the research, however, has focused on restoring memory following some sort of disruption to the brain, such as damage or injections of scopolamine. Aniracetam is a positive AMPA-receptor modulator that h...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	PloS one Vol. 14; no. 4; p. e0215612
Main Authors:	Phillips, Hannah, McDowell, Arlene, Mielby, Birgitte S, Tucker, Ian G, Colombo, Michael
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States Public Library of Science 19-04-2019 Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Subjects:	Accuracy Administration, Oral Aging Animal models Animals Birds Brain Brain - drug effects Brain - physiology Brain damage Brain injury Chromatography Cognition - drug effects Cognition - physiology Cognitive ability Cognitive enhancement Columbidae - physiology Disruption Dosage and administration Drug dosages Health aspects Injections, Intramuscular Interactive computer systems Latency Matching-to-sample Memory Memory, Short-Term - drug effects Memory, Short-Term - physiology Metabolites Monkeys & apes Nootropic agents Nootropic Agents - administration & dosage Nootropic Agents - pharmacokinetics Nootropic Agents - pharmacology Pharmaceuticals Pharmacy Pigeons Psychological aspects Psychomotor Performance - drug effects Pyrrolidinones - administration & dosage Pyrrolidinones - pharmacokinetics Pyrrolidinones - pharmacology Scopolamine Short term memory Time Factors Traumatic brain injury α-Amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid New Zealand
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Summary:	Understanding the effects of cognitive enhancing drugs is an important area of research. Much of the research, however, has focused on restoring memory following some sort of disruption to the brain, such as damage or injections of scopolamine. Aniracetam is a positive AMPA-receptor modulator that has shown promise for improving memory under conditions when the brain has been damaged, but its effectiveness in improving memory in neurologically healthy subjects is unclear. The aim of the present study was to examine the effects of aniracetam (100mg/kg and 200 mg/kg) on short-term memory in "neurologically healthy" pigeons. Pigeons were administered aniracetam via either intramuscular injection or orally, either 30 or 60 minutes prior to testing on a delayed matching-to-sample task. Aniracetam had no effect on the pigeons' memory performance, nor did it affect response latency. These findings add to the growing evidence that, while effective at improving memory function in models of impaired memory, aniracetam has no effect in improving memory in healthy organisms.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
ISSN:	1932-6203 1932-6203
DOI:	10.1371/journal.pone.0215612