Localization of action of two amnesia producing drugs in freely moving mice

Two drugs previously shown to produce amnesia in mice, cycloheximide, a protein synthesis inhibitor, and diethyldithiocarbamate, a dopamine beta hydroxylase inhibitor, altered the electrical activity recorded from the midbrain reticular formation and parietal cortex of freely moving awake mice.

Abstract

Two drugs previously shown to produce amnesia in mice, cycloheximide, a protein synthesis inhibitor, and diethyldithiocarbamate (DDC), a dopamine beta hydroxylase inhibitor, altered the electrical activity recorded from the midbrain reticular formation and parietal cortex of freely moving awake mice. Under similar circumstances, the averaged visual evoked responses were consistently altered only from the dorsal hippocampus. It is suggested that both of these drugs have similar actions and that their primary effect is on the midbrain reticular formation and the cerebral cortex.