Epinephrine-induced memory facilitation: attenuation by adrenoceptor antagonists.

The present study examined the relative importance of alpha- and beta-adrenoceptors in the memory modulatory effects of epinephrine. Posttraining epinephrine administration enhanced retention performance of a one-trial inhibitory avoidance response. Further pretraining injections of a variety of adrenoceptor antagonists, including selective alpha 1-, alpha 2-, beta 1- and/or beta 2-adrenoceptor antagonists, attenuated the retention enhancing effects of posttraining epinephrine. These results suggest that alpha- and beta-adrenoceptors of both subtypes are involved in the memory-modulating effects of epinephrine.