Nimodipine facilitates associative learning in aging rabbits.

Nimodipine is one of several dihydropyridines that block calcium channels. Originally administered to improve cerebral blood flow in elderly patients with chronic cerebrovascular disorders, nimodipine was noted to facilitate learning. These observations led to the present investigation of the effects of nimodipine on associative learning in aging rabbits. Nimodipine accelerated acquisition of conditioned eye-blink in both young and aging rabbits without altering the amplitude of responses to the conditioned or unconditioned stimuli or causing nonspecific responding. Thus, nimodipine may be a candidate for an effective treatment for age-related learning deficits.