Mescaline facilitates retention of passive avoidance in rats

Abstract

Male hooded rats were given one trial of step-through passive avoidance, then immediately injected with saline or mescaline (160 micromoles/kg ip) and tested for retention 48 h later. Controls were given identical treatments, except that they did not. receive footshock during the training trial. Groups receiving footshock showed significant learning and retention, with the mescaline group showing significantly better retention than the saline group. The no-footshock groups showed no learning, with the mescaline group not differing from the saline. In a separate experiment, rats were given one trial of step-through passive avoidance, then injected with saline or mescaline (160 micromoles/kg ip) 72 h later and tested for retention 48 h after injection. The mescaline group did not differ from the saline, indicating that mescaline did not have a 48-h proactive effect on performance in this task. © 1974, Psychonomic Society, Inc.. All rights reserved.