ABSTRACT
I. Introduction................................................................................. 287 II. Methods ....................................................................................... 288
A. Subjects................................................................................... 288 B. Behavioral Analyses .............................................................. 288 C. Neurochemical Analyses ....................................................... 289
III. Results ......................................................................................... 289 A. Stress Effects on Memory ..................................................... 289
1. Spatial Memory — Radial Arm Maze............................. 289 2. Nonspatial Memory — Object Recognition.................... 291 3. Spatial Memory — Object Placement ............................. 292
B. Stress Effects on Neurochemistry ........................................ 292 C. Stress Effects on Memory and Neurochemistry
in Mice.................................................................................... 294 IV. Discussion.................................................................................... 296 V. Acknowledgments ...................................................................... 299
References ............................................................................................. 299
Stress, depending on its intensity and duration, can enhance or impair cognitive functions in animals and humans. In rats, short periods of daily restraint stress (2 weeks) enhance performance of a spatial memory task (radial arm maze
) while longer periods of daily restraint stress (21 days) impair radial arm maze performance
and performance of other spatial memory tasks like the water maze,
Barnes maze,
and Y-maze.
