BR-16A restricts development of electroconvulsive shock-induced retrograde amnesia.

Forty nine adult male Sprague Dawley rats were selected for rapid learning in a T-maze to study the effects of BR-16A, a herbal preparation on ECS-induced retrograde amnesia. Half the rats received 200 mg/kg BR-16A and the other half received vehicle alone. The rats were trained to run into the enclosed chamber of either the left or the right arm on a T-maze; a food pellet served as a reward in the correct arm. Satisfactory learning was defined as 9 correct arm entries over 10 consecutive trials on the maze. On the 5 day, the rats in both the groups were randomised to receive true or sham ECS. The post-ECS data revealed that the number of trials to satisfactory learning and the number of trials with wrong arm entries were large in the ECS-vehicle group, which suggests that BR-16A prevented the development of amnesia. Cholinergic facilitation may be involved, as evidenced by the reversal of scopolamine-induced amnesia and it may also influence opioid neurotransmission. Since ECT-induced retrograde amnesia is a particularly distressing adverse consequence of the treatment, it is hoped that BR-16A will offer a viable solution to the problem of memory deficits following ECT.