Scopolamine- and morphine-induced impairments of spontaneous alternation performance in mice: reversal with glucose and with cholinergic and adrenergic agonists.

Administration of epinephrine and glucose, as well as drugs that influence cholinergic and opiate systems, can enhance or impair memory. The present experiments examined the possibility that peripheral glucose administration might reverse scopolamine- and morphine-induced impairments in a spontaneous alternation task. Mice received all drug administrations 30 min before testing. Scopolamine-induced (3 mg/kg) deficits in alternation performance were reversed by glucose (100 and 250 mg/kg), amphetamine (1 mg/kg), epinephrine, physostigmine, and oxotremorine (each 0.1 mg/kg). Morphine (10 mg/kg) also impaired spontaneous alternation performance, and glucose (100 and 300 mg/kg) reversed this impairment as well. These findings are consistent with the view that central cholinergic systems, possibly under inhibitory opiate regulation, may contribute to glucose and epinephrine effects on memory storage.