Galanin is a 29 amino acid neuropeptide that inhibits the release of glutamate and acetylcholine, and produces performance deficits in a variety of learning and memory tasks (reviewed in Wrenn and Crawley, 2001). Our previous studies revealed that central administration of galanin after subjects had completed daily training trials in the Morris water task interfered with distal cue learning of the platform location (SFN abstract 653.12,2000). We propose a novel mechanism by which galanin interferes with memory consolidation based on the overlap of the signal transduction pathway of galanin (see Iismaa and Shine, 1999) and the downstream molecular events required for consolidation. Our hypothesis is that galanin interferes with adenylate cyclase activation, thus decreasing the cAMP dependent protein kinase A cascade. To test this model, forskolin was centrally administered in combination with galanin to Sprague-Dawley rats in the Morris hidden platform task. Di-deoxyforskolin was similarly administered as a...