Effects of minocycline on learning and memory of mice following ischemic-hypoxic cerebral injuries.

An ischemic-hypoxic animal model was established using right common carotid artery occlusions and inhalation of low concentrations of oxygen in mice. At 10 days after the ischemic-hypoxic injuries, saline-treated mice exhibited significantly prolonged escape latencies in water-maze tests and significantly shorter memory latencies and more mistakes in step-down tests. In contrast, mice treated with 5 mg/kg minocycline exhibited significant reversals of each of these effects compared with the saline-treated control mice. Moreover, we found that minocycline can relieve brain water content and morphological changes in mice following ischemic-hypoxic cerebral injuries. Accordingly, our findings indicate that minocycline provides some protections against the deleterious effects of these injuries in mice.