RESUMO
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effects of pentoxifylline on rats and mice with learning and memory dysfunctions.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Morris water maze test was used to observe the effects of pentoxifylline on learning and memory of naturally aging rats, and jumping stand test was performed to examine its effects in promoting the learning and memory functions in mice with scopolamine- and ethanol-induced memory dysfunctions.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>In aging rats, pentoxifylline at high, moderate and low doses all significantly reduced the latency of platform finding in the place navigation test (P<0.01 or P<0.05 ), and increased the quadrant searching frequency in the spatial probe test (P<0.05). Pentoxifylline at the 3 doses significantly increased the latency of electrification (P<0.01 or P<0.05) and decreased the times of error (P<0.05) of the mice as compared with scopolamine- treated group. Pentoxifylline also improved ethanol-induced memory dysfunction in the mice, but the changes in the performance of the mice were not statistically significant.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Pentoxifylline can improve the learning and memory abilities of rats and mice.</p>