Goldfish were trained to discriminate between two coloured lights. When colchicine was administered intracranially immediately after training it produced complete retrograde amnesia 2 days later, but the fish displayed considerable retention if instead the injection was given 1·25 h after training. If colchicine was administered 1·25 h before training the fish were able to learn as readily as control fish but then showed retrograde amnesia when tested 2 days later. It is suggested that colchicine may affect memory fixation by interfering with the fast transport of material needed to bring about a structural modification at certain synapses.

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