Comparative Study of Intraperitoneal Injection of Ecstasy, Crystal, Glass and Heroine on Passive Avoidance Learning in Male Rats

Document Type : Research Paper

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Abstract

Abusing psychostimulant substances have increased dramatically within the past few years in Iran. The addictive drugs used by young people in Iran include: ecstasy, crystal, glass and heroine. It is known that these substances to cause the lesion of dopaminergic and serotonergic nerve terminals in brain. Depleting dopamine and serotonin transmitter in brain leads to the impairment of learning and memory tasks. The current research has been conducted to compare the effect of intraperitoneal injection of ecstasy, crystal, glass and heroin on passive avoidance learning in male rats. Male adult rats were used and passive avoidance learning test was performed in the shuttle box instrument. The averages for different groups were compared using ANOVA followed by the student-Newman– Keuls. The results showed that intraperitoneal injection of ecstasy, crystal, glass and heroin (5, 10, 15 mg/kg) significantly decreased step-through latency. Also crystal did have the most impairment effect on learning and memory.

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