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. 2014 May 1:567:45-50.
doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2014.03.029. Epub 2014 Mar 27.

Methylphenidate enhances acquisition and retention of spatial memory

Stephanie A Carmack  1 , Carina L Block  1 , Kristin K Howell  1 , Stephan G Anagnostaras  2
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Free article

Methylphenidate enhances acquisition and retention of spatial memory

Stephanie A Carmack et al. Neurosci Lett. .
Free article

Abstract

Psychostimulants containing methylphenidate (MPH) are increasingly being used both on and off-label to enhance learning and memory. Still, almost no studies have investigated MPH's ability to specifically improve spatial or long-term memory. Here we examined the effect of training with 1 or 10mg/kg MPH on hidden platform learning in the Morris water maze. 10mg/kg MPH improved memory acquisition and retention, while 1mg/kg MPH improved memory retention. Taken together with prior evidence that low, clinically relevant, doses of MPH (0.01-1mg/kg MPH) enhance fear memory we conclude that MPH broadly enhances memory.

Keywords: Cognitive enhancement; Fear conditioning; Hippocampus; Mouse; Psychostimulant; Water maze.

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