Drugs of abuse are associated with a variety of cognitive deficits including disruption of learning and memory. Animal models are needed to better assess the cognitive risks of use and abuse of psychoactive drugs. However, procedures available to study memory in rodents are generally limited to the study of retention of a single stimulus or place across a delay interval. The goal of the proposed research is to elaborate a recently developed test that assesses rodent's ability to remember an increasing number of odors within a single experimental session: the olfactory span task. This procedure offers the novel potential to analyze the effects of drugs as a function of memory load.
Aim 1 experiments will determine the acute effects of drugs of abuse and other selected compounds that are thought to have amnestic effects on olfactory memory using the span procedure including benzodiazepines (chlordiazepoxide, midazolam), NMDA antagonists (dizocilpine, ketamine), opiates (morphine), psychostimulants (methylphenidate, methamphetamine, MDMA), and an anticholinergic hallucinogen (scopolamine).
The Aim 2 experiments will examine residual effects on memory span after exposure to neurotoxic doses of MDMA and methamphetamine that have been associated with amnestic effects in humans and in some animal models. An overarching goal of the project is to develop and evaluate this new methodology as a tool in the assessment of the effects of drugs on memory. Finally, the proposed research will provide an ideal opportunity for students to develop skills and background in psychopharmacology and neuroscience.

Public Health Relevance

Drugs of abuse may produce cognitive deficits and this project will develop a new animal model to identify and characterize acute and residual effects of abused drugs on memory capacity.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
Type
Academic Research Enhancement Awards (AREA) (R15)
Project #
1R15DA029252-01
Application #
7878253
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-BBBP-C (02))
Program Officer
Lynch, Minda
Project Start
2010-04-01
Project End
2014-02-28
Budget Start
2010-04-01
Budget End
2014-02-28
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2010
Total Cost
$216,000
Indirect Cost
Name
University of North Carolina Wilmington
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
040036584
City
Wilmington
State
NC
Country
United States
Zip Code
28403
Bruce, Katherine; Dyer, Katherine; Mathews, Michael et al. (2018) Successive odor matching- and non-matching-to-sample in rats: A reversal design. Behav Processes 155:26-32
Mathews, Michael J; Mead, Ralph N; Galizio, Mark (2018) Effects of N-Methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) antagonists ketamine, methoxetamine, and phencyclidine on the odor span test of working memory in rats. Exp Clin Psychopharmacol 26:6-17
Galizio, Mark; Mathews, Michael; Mason, Madeleine et al. (2017) Amnestic drugs in the odor span task: Effects of flunitrazepam, zolpidem and scopolamine. Neurobiol Learn Mem 145:67-74
Galizio, Mark (2016) Olfactory Stimulus Control and the Behavioral Pharmacology of Remembering. Behav Anal (Wash D C) 16:169-178
Galizio, Mark; April, Brooke; Deal, Melissa et al. (2016) Behavioral pharmacology of the odor span task: Effects of flunitrazepam, ketamine, methamphetamine and methylphenidate. J Exp Anal Behav 106:173-194
Prichard, Ashley; Panoz-Brown, Danielle; Bruce, Katherine et al. (2015) Emergent identity but not symmetry following successive olfactory discrimination training in rats. J Exp Anal Behav 104:133-45
Galizio, Mark; Byrd, Bridget D; Robinson, Andrea M et al. (2014) Repeated Acquisition in the Morris Swim Task: Effects of MDMA, Methamphetamine and Methylphenidate. Psychol Rec 64:143-150
Branch, Carrie L; Galizio, Mark; Bruce, Katherine (2014) What-Where-When Memory in the Rodent Odor Span Task. Learn Motiv 47:18-29
Hawkey, Andrew; April, L Brooke; Galizio, Mark (2014) Effects of MDMA on olfactory memory and reversal learning in rats. Neurobiol Learn Mem 114:209-16
April, L Brooke; Bruce, Katherine; Galizio, Mark (2013) The Magic Number 70 (plus or minus 20): Variables Determining Performance in the Rodent Odor Span Task. Learn Motiv 44:143-158

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