Effects of antifeins (memory affecting agents) on behavior, brain infraslow activity and temperature

Four imidazole- and pyrazoledicarboxylic acid derivatives: 1-ethyl-4,5-di-(N-methylcarbamoyl)-imidazole (aethimizol), 1-allyl-4,5-di(N-methylcarbamoyl)-imidazole (allylnorantifein), 1-ethyl-4,5-di-(N-methylcarbamoyl)-pyrazole (IEM-476), and 1-allyl-4,5-di-(N-methylcarbomyol)-pyrazole (IEM-474) were investigated for their ability to abolish in rats the amnesia of passive avoidance response induced by electroconvulsive shock and to alter the infraslow activity and temperature of the brain in rabbits. IEM-476 10 mg/kg did abolish (P less than 0,05) the amnesia in rats, while the other agents did not. The experiments in rabbits with brain indwelling golden electrodes and thermocouples revealed a shift in the amplitude and frequency of multiminute waves of infraslow activity and a decrease in the temperature of hippocampus, hypothalamus and neocortex after aethimizol (1,5 mg/kg) and IEM-476 (3 mg/kg). Allylnorantifein and IEM-474 (both 3 mg/kg) shifted the amplitude and frequency of multiminute waves of infraslow activity in the reticular formation of the mesencephalon, in the medial group of thalamic nuclei, and the neocortex, i. e. the structures of the nonspecific ascending brain system, and failed to affect the brain temperature. The effects of IEM-476 and IEM-474 were shorter in duration, than those of aethimizol and allylnorantifein.