Memory test selection

It is important that learning and memory tests selected for inclusion in screening batteries are sensitive to toxic effects. Tasks requiring long training even in normal animals may be unsuitable. The necessity of giving... 

In a 3-week, double-blind study of the cognitive effects of lithium (serum concentration about 0.8 mmol/1 n = 15) versus placebo (n = 15) in healthy subjects, lithium did not impair implicit recall, ability to process two tasks concurrently and simultaneously, short-term memory, or selective attention, but caused impaired learning during repeated administration of memory tests (226). Since neuropsychological testing could not distinguish lithium treatment from pre- and post-treatment in the lithium group, any lithium effects must be considered subtle at best. 

Several clinical trials on the efficacy of hupA for the treatment of AD have been conducted in China, and recently, a phase II trial was completed in the USA. Clinical tests, e.g., MMSE (Mini Mental State Examination) and ADL (Activities of daily living), as well as other memory tests, were used to evaluate the effects of the treatment. Table 39.2 reviews the semp, trial conditions, and results from the clinical trials. Note that for the trials conducted in China, only the four studies selected by a meta-analysis performed by Wang et al. in 2009 are included in Table 39.2 [64, 87-90]. 

Test yourself by selecting at random the name of an intermediate substrate and then draw from memory its structure. 

Tryptophan depletion in healthy volunteers impairs the retrieval of learnt material (Park et al., 1994), an effect probably mediated through a selective impairment of episodic memory consolidation (Riedel et al., 1999 Schmitt et al., 2000). However, tryptophan depletion appears to have no effect on working memory (Riedel et al., 1999) and either no effect or an enhancement of tests of executive function (Park et al., 1994 Schmitt et al., 2000). Thus the abnormality in episodic memory in mood disorders could conceivably be related to an impairment in the 5-HT system, but such an impairment is unlikely to account for the abnormalities in working memory and executive function. Clearly then, changes in consciousness occurring in affective disorders are unlikely to be explainable on the basis of an abnormality in a single neurochemical system. 

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