Glucose enhancement of 24-h memory retrieval in healthy elderly humans

Carol A. Manning, William S. Stone, Donna L. Korol, Paul E. Gold

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

75 Scopus citations

Abstract

When administered soon before or after training, glucose facilitates memory in rodents and in several populations of humans, including healthy elderly people. Thus, glucose appears to enhance memory formation in a time- and dose-dependent manner. By assessing the effects of glucose at the time of memory tests, the present experiment examined the role of glucose on memory retrieval in healthy elderly people. On four sessions separated by a week, glucose or saccharin were administered immediately before hearing a narrative prose passage, as in previous experiments, or immediately before being tested for recall of the passage (24 h after training). Subjects recalled significantly more information after glucose ingestion than after saccharin ingestion whether the glucose was given before acquisition or memory tests. In addition, recall was significantly better in the preacquisition glucose condition relative to recall in the retrieval glucose condition. These findings provide evidence that glucose enhances both memory storage and retrieval.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)71-76
Number of pages6
JournalBehavioural Brain Research
Volume93
Issue number1-2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 1998
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Aging
  • Glucose
  • Memory facilitation
  • Memory retrieval
  • Memory storage

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Behavioral Neuroscience

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