Jpn. J. Pharmacol. 74 (3), 281-283 (1997)


Cimetidine Inhibits the Induction of Long-Term Potentiation in the Dentate Gyrus of Rats In Vivo

Ming Chang, Hiroshi Saito and Kazuho Abe (*)


Department of Chemical Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113, Japan
(*) To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Abstract: We investigated the effect of cimetidine, a clinically used H2-receptor antagonist, on the induction of long-term potentiation (LTP) in the dentate gyrus of anesthetized rats. Intracerebroventricular injection of cimetidine (50 - 100 nmol) inhibited the induction of LTP in a dose-dependent manner. The inhibitory effect of cimetidine was not mimicked by other H2-receptor antagonists (ranitidine, famotidine) or the H1-receptor antagonist diphenhydramine or the H3-receptor antagonist thioperamide. These results suggest that cimetidine inhibits hippocampal synaptic plasticity by a novel brain mechanism unrelated to H1, H2 or H3 receptors.

Keywords: Cimetidine, Long-term potentiation, Hippocampus


Copyright© The Japanese Pharmacological Society 1997

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