Strain-dependent effects of post-training cocaine or nomifensine on memory storage involve both D1 and D2 dopamine...

Post-training administration of cocaine (1-10 mg/kg) or nomifensine (1-10 mg/kg) dose-dependently improves retention of an inhibitory avoidance response in C57BL16 mice, while impairign it in the DBA/2 strain. The effects of retention performance induced by the psychostimulant and the dopamine (DA) reuptake blocker in C57BL/6 and DBA/2 mice appear to be due to an effect on memory consolidation. In fact, they were observed when drugs were given at short, but not long, periods of time after training, i.e. when the memory trace is susceptible to modulation. Moreover, these effects are not to be ascribed to an aversive or a rewarding or non-specific action of the drugs on retention performance, as the latencies during the retention test of those mice that had not received a footshock during the training were not affected by the post-training drug administration. The strain-dependent effects of an intermediate dose (5 mg/kg) of both cocaine and nomifensine were reversed by pretreatment with either selective D1 or D2 DA receptor antagonist SCH 23390 and (-)-sulpiride administered at per se non-effective doses (0.025 and 6 mg/kg, respectively), thus suggesting that D1 and D2 receptor types are similarly involved in modulating memory processes. These results show that the effects of cocaine on memory consolidation are related to to its dopaminergic action, since they are similar to those produced by nomifensine and, what is more important, are antagonized by pretreatment with DA receptor antagonists.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)