Pitsikas Nikolaos
Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Thessaly, Panepistimiou 3 (Biopolis), 415000 Larissa, Greece.
Behav Brain Res. 2015 May 15;285:200-7. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2014.06.008. Epub 2014 Jun 13.
The novel object recognition task (NORT) assesses recognition memory in animals. It is a non-rewarded paradigm that it is based on spontaneous exploratory behavior in rodents. This procedure is widely used for testing the effects of compounds on recognition memory. Recognition memory is a type of memory severely compromised in schizophrenic and Alzheimer's disease patients. Nitric oxide (NO) is sought to be an intra- and inter-cellular messenger in the central nervous system and its implication in learning and memory is well documented. Here I intended to critically review the role of NO-related compounds on different aspects of recognition memory. Current analysis shows that both NO donors and NO synthase (NOS) inhibitors are involved in object recognition memory and suggests that NO might be a promising target for cognition impairments. However, the potential neurotoxicity of NO would add a note of caution in this context.
新颖物体识别任务（NORT）用于评估动物的识别记忆。它是一种基于啮齿动物自发探索行为的无奖励范式。该程序广泛用于测试化合物对识别记忆的影响。识别记忆是精神分裂症和阿尔茨海默病患者中严重受损的一种记忆类型。一氧化氮（NO）被认为是中枢神经系统中的一种细胞内和细胞间信使，其在学习和记忆中的作用已有充分记录。在此，我旨在批判性地综述与NO相关的化合物在识别记忆不同方面的作用。目前的分析表明，NO供体和NO合酶（NOS）抑制剂均参与物体识别记忆，并表明NO可能是认知障碍的一个有前景的靶点。然而，NO的潜在神经毒性在这种情况下会增加一个注意事项。
