Effects of phosphatidylserine on avoidance relearning in rats (preliminary observations)

During six learning sessions in a shuttle-box avoidance situation, male Sprague-Dawley rats show two kinds of learning efficiency which allow for dividing them in the subgroups of high-responding (HR) and low-responding (LR) animals. The effect of phosphatidylserine, a pharmacologically active phospholipid obtained from bovine brain, has been studied on the relearning phase of these two populations of rats. Chronic administration of phosphatidylserine (15 mg/kg i.p. for 30 days) significantly increased the avoidance performances of LR animals, without changing those of HR rats. The results obtained suggest that the different behavioral response to the phosphatidylserine treatment may depend on the pre-drug baseline of avoidance learning capability and on the effect that the drug exerts on some brain neurotransmitter metabolism.