Piracetam and fish orientation during parabolic aircraft flight
Hoffman, R.B.; Salinas, G.A.; Homick, J.L.
Aviation Space and Environmental Medicine 51(6): 568-576
1980
ISSN/ISBN: 0095-6562 PMID: 7417117 Document Number: 154386
Goldfish were flown in parabolic Keplerian trajectories in a KC-135 aircraft to assay the effectiveness of piracetam as an anti-motion sickness drug and the effectiveness of state-dependent training during periods of oscillating gravity levels. Single-frame analyses of IR films were performed for 2 classes of responses: roll rates in hypogravity or hypogravity orienting responses (LGR) and climbing responses in hypergravity or hypergravity orienting responses (HGR). Prelight training with a vestibular stressor facilitated suppression of LGR by the 10th parabola. An inverse correlation was found between the magnitudes of LGR and HGR. Piracetam was not effective in a state-dependent design, but the drug did significantly increase HGR when injected into trained fish shortly before flight. Injections of saline, piracetam, modifiers of GABA, aminooxyacetic acid (AOAA) and isonicotinic acid (INH), did not modify LGR. AOAA did significantly increase HGR. The preflight training had a beneficial effect in reducing disorientation in the fish in weightlessness, but the drugs employed were ineffective.