Puromycin: effect on memory of mice when injected with various cations.

Puromycin dihydrochloride neutralized with bases of potassium, lithium, calcium, or magnesium fails to block expression of memory of maze learning in mice, unlike puromycin neutralized with NaOH. This failure may be due to cationic binding at anionic membrane sites with a resultant exclusion of sufficient peptidyl-puromycin to make it ineffective in blocking memory.