Harmine impairs memory performance of treated rats and nontreated cagemates.
Tânia Cristina Libânio, R. Eufrásio, Suzy S Niigaki, Fernanda Fiel Peres, Regina H. Silva, Antônio Waldo Zuardi, Jaime E. C. Hallak, José Alexandre S. Crippa, Mariana Bendlin Calzavara, Vanessa C. Abı́lio
Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology November 4, 2021 DOI: 10.1037/pha0000525 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Experimental study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Rats |
| Intervention | Harmine |
| Dose | 5, 10, or 15 mg/kg |
| Measures | contextual and tone fear conditioning (CFC and TFC), plus-maze discriminative avoidance (PMDAT) |
| Topics | Ayahuasca |
| Keywords | Harmine Pharmacology |
| Citations | 6 |
| Key findings | Harmine impairs memory in emotional tasks in rats, and cohabitation with harmine-treated rats also impairs memory in untreated rats. |
Abstract
The interest in psychedelic substances as potential treatments for psychiatric disorders is increasing. The β-carboline harmine, an Ayahuasca component, presents hallucinogenic and antidepressant effects. Although Ayuahuasca-and consequently harmine-is usually consumed in rituals, the role of social contexts in the behavioral effects of harmine has not been investigated yet. In this sense, affective states may modulate cohabitants' behavior, including learning/memory. This work investigates the effects of harmine on the learning/memory performance of rats evaluated on the contextual and tone fear conditioning (CFC and TFC) and on the plus-maze discriminative avoidance (PMDAT) tasks. The possible influence of a harmine-treated cohabitant was assessed by evaluating rats housed in homogeneous cages-where all the animals were acutely administered with the same treatment (vehicle, 5, 10, or 15 mg/kg harmine), and in heterogeneous cages-where each animal received a different drug treatment. The main results are: (a) harmine impaired CFC (10 mg/kg) and PMDAT discrimination (all doses); and (b) harmine caused a memory deficit in CFC, TFC, and PMDAT of untreated rats kept in heterogeneous cages. Our results show that harmine induces a memory deficit in tasks with emotional contexts. Further, the cohabitation with animals treated with this drug also seems to impair memory performance of untreated animals. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).