Nature and amplitude of the effects of acetoxycycloheximide on the retention of an instrumental task in mice (author's transl)

Mice injected subcutaneously with AXM (7 mg/kg) 60 minutes or less after acquisition of a nondiscriminative instrumental task, show low levels of lever press responding, when tested 6 days after the treatment. AXM injected 180 min after acquisition has no effect whatsoever on the performance. The analysis of various parameters such as, (1) the number of nonreinforced responses (A) preceding the first reinforced response (AR), and (2) the latency of the first reinforced response, shows that only the animals treated with AXM during the first 3 min following acquisition differ significantly from the control animals: they seem to have forgotten the significance of the lever. On the contrary, the low levels of responding observed in the animals treated 30–60 min after acquisition does not seem to be due to a nonretention of the significance of the liver. The mechanisms by which the AXM affects the level of responding remain obscure.