Phencyclidine disrupts acquisition and retention performance within a spatial continuous recognition memory task.

Rats with 1 or 2 mg/kg phencyclidine (PCP), 4 mg/kg PCP, or saline injections were tested for acquisition or retention performance of a spatial continuous recognition memory task. Results indicate that relative to controls and rats with injections of 1 and 2 mg/kg PCP rats with 4-mg/kg PCP injections were profoundly impaired in acquisition and somewhat impaired in retention of the task across all lags as measured by increases in latency for repeated items. Phencyclidine, through it presumed blocking action of the NMDA receptor, alters the consolidation of new spatial location information but does not have a major affect on short-term maintenance of previously learned information.