Harmine impairs memory performance of treated rats and nontreated cagemates.
Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology November 4, 2021 Tânia Cristina Libânio, R. Eufrásio, Suzy S Niigaki et al. 6 citations
Harmine, a component of the psychedelic brew ayahuasca, impairs memory in emotional contexts in rats, and even untreated rats housed with harmine-treated rats show memory deficits. In experiments using contextual and tone fear conditioning and a plus-maze discriminative avoidance task, harmine at 10 mg/kg impaired contextual fear conditioning, and all doses (5, 10, or 15 mg/kg) impaired discriminative avoidance. Untreated rats housed in cages with harmine-treated rats also showed memory deficits across all tasks, suggesting that social context and cohabitation can influence the drug's behavioral effects.