CGP 36742: the first orally active GABAB blocker improves the cognitive performance of mice, rats, and rhesus monkeys.

The learning capacity of experimental animals in cognitive tests can be improved by blockade of the GABAB receptors. After treatment with the GABAB antagonist CGP 36742, mice performed better in a passive-avoidance test; rats did likewise in a partner-recognition test, and rhesus monkeys also in a "conditional spatial color" task. The effects demonstrated in these three different species and covering diverse manifestations of learning and memory give reason to hope that this new active principle may prove therapeutically useful.