D-Serine alleviates retrograde amnesia of a visual discrimination task in rats with a lesion of the perirhinal cortex

Brain Res. 2003 Jul 25;979(1-2):240-4. doi: 10.1016/s0006-8993(03)02894-4.

Abstract

D-Serine has been suggested to be a potent endogenous glycine-site agonist on the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor, thereby having a potential role in the process of learning and memory. In rats, perirhinal cortex (PC) constitutes a particularly important structure for mnemonic processing, and damage to this area induces both anterograde and retrograde amnesia. In the present work, we show that intraperitoneal administration of 1000 mg/kg D-serine immediately after bilateral lesion of PC produced complete restoration of retrograde memory in rats, measured by a visual brightness discrimination task, while a higher dose (3000 mg/kg) did not show any reliable effect. Uptake of the drug into the brain was confirmed using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amnesia, Retrograde / drug therapy*
  • Animals
  • Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid
  • Discrimination Learning / drug effects*
  • Entorhinal Cortex / drug effects*
  • Entorhinal Cortex / injuries
  • Entorhinal Cortex / pathology
  • Male
  • Memory / drug effects*
  • Memory / physiology
  • Photic Stimulation
  • Rats
  • Rats, Wistar
  • Serine / pharmacology*

Substances

  • Serine