Isoarecolone-induced enhancement of delayed matching to sample performance in monkeys: role of nicotinic receptors.

Nicotine enhances memory performance in young and aged monkeys performing a version of the delayed matching to sample (DMTS) task. However, the beneficial actions of nicotine are often limited by debilitating side effects. Isoarecolone is a piperidine derivative with nicotine-like activity, but having a slightly different profile of behavioral actions in rodents. In young monkeys, isoarecolone produced a dose-dependent enhancement of the DMTS task on the same day of testing, with a trend towards enhanced performance in animals tested 24 h after administration. Isoarecolone was about 1500-fold less potent than nicotine in enhancing DMTS performance. The ability of isoarecolone to enhance DMTS performance was well correlated with its ability to interact with cortical nicotinic receptors in vitro.