The influence of repeated administration of histamine on lithium-induced state dependency has been investigated. A single-trial step-down inhibitory avoidance task was used to assess memory in adult male NMRI mice. Intraperitoneal (i.p.) administration of lithium (10 mg/kg), immediately after training (post-training), impaired inhibitory avoidance memory on the test day. Pre-test administration of lithium reversed amnesia induced by the drug given after training, with the maximum response at a dose of 10 mg/kg. Repeated intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) administration of histamine (20 mu g/mouse) for 3 consecutive days followed by 5 days of no drug treatment improved memory retrieval of inhibitory avoidance by a pre-test lower dose (5 mg/kg i.p.) of lithium. In contrast, 3 days of i.c.v. injections of both the histamine H1 receptor antagonist pyrilamine (40 mu g/mouse) and the histamine H2 receptor antagonist ranitidine (6.25 and 12.5 mu g/mouse) prevented the improving effect of pre-test lithium (10 mg/kg i.p.) on memory retrieval. The results suggest that the repeated administration of histaminergic agents may induce a sensitization which affects the memory impairment induced by lithium.
