Avoidance reaction of painful stimulation of another rat: effect of methylglucamine orotate.

An avoidance reaction to painful stimulation of another animal was developed in rats. Two hundred twenty-five mg/kg methylglucamine orotate was injected intraperitoneally each day, 1 hr before the training session. The orotate treated rats showed an accelerated development of the avoidance reaction during 5 days of training. Depending on the experimental conditions, extinction of the reaction was delayed in orotate treated rats, compared to saline controls. The results from these experiments, using neither footshock punishment nor food reward as reinforcement, give further evidence for the improvement of long term memory by orotic acid.