Premium
Effect of BMY 21502 on Classical Conditioning of the Eyeblink Response in Young and Older Rabbits
Author(s) -
WOODRUFFPAK DIANA S.,
SASSE DORIS K.,
COFFIN JOAN M.,
HAUNTONKREPS MELISSA,
MOON SANDRA L.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1991.tb00235.x
Subject(s) - coffin , annals , memphis , eyeblink conditioning , library science , history , psychology , gerontology , art history , classics , medicine , archaeology , classical conditioning , computer science , mathematics , biology , statistics , conditioning , botany
BMY 21502, a substituted pyrrolidionone, has been found to enhance a simple form of learning in older rabbits. In humans, this simple type of learning, classical conditioning of the eyeblink response, declines in normal aging and is seriously impaired in Alzheimer's disease (AD). We have demonstrated that eyeblink classical conditioning reliably discriminates patients diagnosed with probable AD from non-demented, age-matched elderly subjects. Older organisms can be classically conditioned, but they condition at a much slower rate than younger organisms. Our preliminary analyses indicate age differences in distribution of protein kinase C in the hippocampus. Here we also report that older rabbits that are administered two different doses of BMY 21502 classically condition at a rate approximating that of young rabbits.