RC-3095, a bombesin/gastrin-releasing peptide receptor antagonist, impairs aversive but not recognition memory in rats

Bombesin and its mammalian equivalent, gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP), stimulate cell proliferation and are involved in the pathogenesis of several types of human Cancer. Bombesin-like Peptides also display neuroendocrine activities and regulate neural function. In the present study, we evaluated the effects of the bombesin/GRP receptor antagonist (D-Tpi(6), Leu(13) psi[CH(2)NH]-Leu(14)) bombesin-(6-14) (RC-3095), experimental antitumor drug, on memory in rats. Adult female Wistar rats were treated with an intraperitoneal injection of RC-3095 (0.2, 1.0 or 5.0 mg/kg) 30 min before training in either inhibitory avoidance or novel object recognition tasks. Retention test trials were carried out 1.5 (short-term memory) or 24 h (long-term memory) after training. RC-3095 at the doses of 0.2 or 1.0 mg/kg, but not at the dose of 5.0 mg/kg, impaired both short- and long-term inhibitory avoidance retention, but did not affect recognition memory. The memory-impairing effect of RC-3095 could not be attributed to alterations in sensorimotor functions. The results show that the antitumor drug/GRP antagonist RC-3095 impairs formation of aversive memory.