Scopolamine-induced amnesia can be prevented by heat shock pretreatment in rats

The current study used the passive avoidance test to examine whether heat shock pretreatment has an effect on the memory impairment induced by scopolamine. Heat shock protein (HSP) 72 overexpression was detected in different brain structures in rats 16 h after heat shock treatment, but not in rats receiving no heat shock or 48 h after heat shock treatment. The step-through latency of either pre- or post-training administration of scopolamine in rats 16 h after heat shock treatment was significantly higher than those of the rats receiving no heat shock or 48 h after heat shock treatment. However, rats, 16 h after heat shock treatment and having been given scopolamine, performed no better than rats treated only with scopolamine. Hence, the present results indicate that heat shock has a protective, but not therapeutic, effect on the memory impairment induced by scopolamine by overexpression of HSP72 in rat brain.