Amphetamine effects on long term potentiation in dentate granule cells.

Long term potentiation (LTP) has received considerable attention as a neurophysiological analog of memory. Amphetamine, as well as several other catecholamine agonists, can enhance behaviorally-assessed memory storage in a variety of training situations. The present experiments tested the effects of amphetamine on LTP produced by high frequency stimulation of the perforant path in rats. The results indicate that amphetamine can enhance the development of LTP under some but not all testing procedures. Studies of the neurobiological bases by which central and peripheral catecholamines modulate memory storage may be augmented by examinations of catecholamine effects on a specific form of long-lasting change in brain function. Similarly, the ability to manipulate LTP may prove to be an important aid in examinations of neurobiological correlates of this phenomenon.