Anterograde amnesia by the illicit use of benzodiazepines

Recently, the criminal associated with the benzodiazepine combained with ethanol frequently occur in Japan. Memory deficits caused by taking benzodiazepine and ethanol are the point at issue. We investigated the mechanism of the anterograde amnesia to study in vivo hippocampal presynaptic glutamate transmission in conjunction with memory deficits induced by benzodiazepines and ethanol in rats as animal model of amnesia. We indicated that presynaptic dysfunction in dorsal hippocampal glutamatergic neurons would be critical for spatial memory deficits induced by benzodiazepines and ethanol.