Pretraining hippocampal stimulation of melatonin type 2 receptors can improve memory acquisition in rats

Abstract

Background: Learning and memory are among the most important cognitive functions of the brain. Melatonin receptor type 2 (MT2R) is located in the hippocampus and participates in learning and memory processes. In the present study, we examined the role of hippocampal MT2R activation in the acquisition, consolidation, and retrieval of learning and memory in novel object recognition (NOR) and passive avoidance (PA) tasks.

Methods: IIK7 (0.03, 0.3, and 3 μg/μl/side), as a selective MT2R agonist, or vehicle was injected bilaterally into the dentate gyrus (DG) region of the hippocampus in rats five minutes before training, immediately after training, and five minutes before the retrieval-behavioral tasks, respectively. The discrimination index (DI) was measured in the NOR task, while step-through latency in acquisition (STLa), number of trials to acquisition (NOT), step-through latency in the retention trial (STLr), and time spent in the dark compartment (TDC) were determined in the PA task.

Results: The pretraining intrahippocampal injection of IIK7 at all doses significantly improved acquisition in the PA task. On the other hand, the posttraining intrahippocampal administration of IIK7 had no significant effects on consolidation. The preretrieval intrahippocampal injection of IIK7 at different doses attenuated the retrieval of memory. However, the NOR data showed that the intrahippocampal injection of IIK7 at different doses had no significant effects on the acquisition, consolidation, or retrieval in this task.

Discussion: Based on the findings, stimulation of MT2R could improve acquisition, whereas it had no effects on consolidation. It could impair retrieval in the PA task, while it had no effects on object recognition in rats.

Keywords:

• Melatonin receptor
• acquisition
• avoidance
• rats

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethical approval

The ethics committee of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences approved the study protocol (135IR.UMSHA.REC.1395). All procedures were conducted according to the Guide for Care and Use of Laboratory Animals published by the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH Publication No. 85-23, revised 1985).

Additional information

Funding

This research was a part of an MSc thesis and it was supported by a grant (No. 9504011614) from the Neurophysiology Research Center, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences.