Cocaine enhances retention of avoidance conditioning in rats

The effects of post-training cocaine administration were tested on retention of a one-way active avoidance task in rats. A 5.0 mg/kg IP dose of cocaine enhanced retention of the avoidance task, in three separate experiments, as indicated by an increase in the number of avoidances made when animals were tested 24 h after training, while both a lower (2.5 mg/kg) and a higher (7.5 mg/kg) cocaine dose had no effect. Lidocaine (4-8 mg/kg) administered post-training did not reliably affect retention in the same task. Cocaine's ability to enhance retention depended on the interval between training and drug injection such that only cocaine administered directly after training enhanced retention the following day. The results show that post-training cocaine administration enhances retention of an active avoidance task in rats, and that this effect is probably independent of the anesthetic properties of the drug.