Harmine Impairs Memory Performance of Treated Rats and Nontreated Cagemates

Author(s)

Libanio, Tania C. ^[1] ; Eufrasio, Rai A. ^[1] ; Niigaki, Suzy S. ^[1] ; Peres, Fernanda F. ^{[2, 1]} ; Silva, Regina H. ^[1] ; Zuardi, Antonio W. ^{[3, 2]} ; Hallak, Jaime E. C. ^{[3, 2]} ; Crippa, Jose A. S. ^{[3, 2]} ; Calzavara, Mariana B. ^[1] ; Abilio, Vanessa C. ^{[2, 1]}

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Fed Sao Paulo, Dept Pharmacol, Mol & Behav Neurosci Lab, Rua Botucatu 862, Edificio Leal Prado, BR-04023901 Sao Paulo, SP - Brazil

^[2] Natl Council Sci & Technol Dev CNPq CAPES FAPESP, Natl Inst Translat Med INCT TM, Ribeirao Preto - Brazil

^[3] Univ Sao Paulo, Ribeirao Preto Med Sch, Dept Neurosci & Behav, Sao Paulo - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: EXPERIMENTAL AND CLINICAL PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY; NOV 2021.
• Web of Science Citations: 0

Abstract

The interest in psychedelic substances as potential treatments for psychiatric disorders is increasing. The beta-carboline harmine, an Ayahuasca component, presents hallucinogenic and antidepressant effects. Although Ayuahuasca-and consequently harmine-is usually consumed in rituals, the role of social contexts in the behavioral effects of harmine has not been investigated yet. In this sense, affective states may modulate cohabitants' behavior, including learning/memory. This work investigates the effects of harmine on the learning/memory performance of rats evaluated on the contextual and tone fear conditioning (CFC and TFC) and on the plus-maze discriminative avoidance (PMDAT) tasks. The possible influence of a harmine-treated cohabitant was assessed by evaluating rats housed in homogeneous cages-where all the animals were acutely administered with the same treatment (vehicle, 5, 10, or 15 mg/kg harmine), and in heterogeneous cages-where each animal received a different drug treatment. The main results are: (a) harmine impaired CFC (10 mg/kg) and PMDAT discrimination (all doses); and (b) harmine caused a memory deficit in CFC, TFC, and PMDAT of untreated rats kept in heterogeneous cages. Our results show that harmine induces a memory deficit in tasks with emotional contexts. Further, the cohabitation with animals treated with this drug also seems to impair memory performance of untreated animals. Public Health Significance Harmine, one of the components of the Ayahuasca beverage, presents hallucinogenic and antidepressant effects. Here, we demonstrate that harmine induces memory deficits, and the cohabitation with harmine-treated animals impairs memory performance of untreated animals. The investigation of the effects of harmine per se and on the emotions/behaviors of others is of great importance considering the potential of psychedelic agents as an alternative for the treatment of psychiatric disorders. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 08/09009-2 - Crack/cocaine chronic use: dopamine transporters availability, genetic factors, and executive functioning
• Grantee: Acioly Luiz Tavares de Lacerda
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants