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Behavioral Neuroscience

© 2018 American Psychological Association 2018, Vol. 132, No. 6, 580 –586
0735-7044/18/$12.00 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/bne0000262

Acetaminophen Disrupts Memory in Object Recognition and Increases


Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinase Phosphorylation in Male Mice
Tyler M. Milewski and Patrick T. Orr
University of Scranton

Acetaminophen (also known as paracetamol) is a commonly used over-the-counter pain medication, but
recent evidence suggests that a single exposure or prenatal exposure may have significant behavioral
effects. This investigation aimed to determine whether acetaminophen could disrupt memory formation
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

in an object-recognition task and to quantify potential changes in memory-related signaling cascades in


This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.

the hippocampus of mice after acetaminophen administration. Using male mice, we examined the effect
of a single subcutaneous injection of acetaminophen on the object-recognition task, a single-trial,
hippocampus-dependent memory task. We also investigated potential changes in the activation of
extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) in the dorsal mouse hippocampus 1 hr after a subcutaneous
injection of acetaminophen. We found that 50 mg/kg and 100 mg/kg interfered with performance in the
object-recognition memory task, whereas 10 mg/kg did not. We also found that a single 50 mg/kg
injection of acetaminophen significantly increased p42 ERK phosphorylation in the dorsal mouse
hippocampus. Overall, these results suggest that a single dose of acetaminophen can have significant
effects on memory and alters signaling kinases critical for memory consolidation. Further work is needed
to determine the involved mechanisms.

Keywords: acetaminophen, object recognition, ERK, hippocampus, paracetamol

Acetaminophen, also known as paracetamol, is one of the most kinetic disorders (Liew, Ritz, Rebordosa, Lee, & Olsen, 2014) or
commonly used over-the-counter pain medications. Recom- autism spectrum disorders with hyperkinetic symptoms (Liew,
mended as a safe, mild analgesic (Källén & Reis, 2016; Servey & Ritz, Virk, & Olsen, 2016). In acute administration studies of
Chang, 2014), acetaminophen is frequently used for postopera- humans, acetaminophen use has also been reported to dull emo-
tional pain in combination with a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory tional pain (DeWall et al., 2010) and inhibit emotional processing
drug (Koh, Nguyen, & Jahr, 2015; McNicol, Ferguson, Haroutou- (Durso, Luttrell, & Way, 2015). Further, a single acute dose of
nian, Carr, & Schumann, 2016; Ong, Seymour, Lirk, & Merry, acetaminophen has been found to reduce distrust in individuals
2010) for dealing with the pain of fractures and broken bones with features of borderline personality disorder (Roberts, Krajbich,
(Bergenstock, Min, Simon, Sabatino, & O’Connor, 2005) and Cheavens, Campo, & Way, 2018). In light of these findings,
migraines (Lipton, Baggish, Stewart, Codispoti, & Fu, 2000). In careful investigation is needed to determine if acetaminophen may
addition, acetaminophen is the analgesic of choice during preg- have additional underdescribed effects.
nancy because it does not confer risk for frank congenital abnor- Recent rodent work demonstrates that acetaminophen affects
malities (Källén & Reis, 2016; Scialli, Ang, Breitmeyer, & Royal, memory. For example, injections of high doses of acetaminophen
2010). However, recent evidence suggests that acetaminophen have impaired performance of the Morris water maze in mice,
may have an impact beyond its analgesic and antipyretic effects. whereas low doses facilitated performance (Ishida et al., 2007).
Recent prospective studies link prenatal acetaminophen expo- Acetaminophen has also interfered with long-term potentiation in
sure to symptoms of hyperactivity or impulsivity (Avella-Garcia et the hippocampus (Chen & Bazan, 2003). Although such evidence
al., 2016), poorer gross motor development (Brandlistuen, Ystrom, suggests that acetaminophen can influence memory formation, the
Nulman, Koren, & Nordeng, 2013), and increased risk of hyper- mechanism for this action remains unclear. It is currently unknown
whether acetaminophen exposure influences object-recognition
memory formation, but, as a single-trial learning task, it is ideal for
testing the effects of acute acetaminophen exposure.
This article was published Online First August 30, 2018. Some investigations suggest that the effects of acetaminophen
Tyler M. Milewski and Patrick T. Orr, Department of Psychology, are mediated by anti-inflammatory actions, such as inhibition of
Neuroscience Program, University of Scranton. cyclooxegenase (COX) enzymes (Ishida et al., 2007), notably
We thank J. Timothy Cannon for aid in the conception of the study, and
COX-2 and COX-3 (although, for a full discussion of the putative
Shreya Patel, Catherine Stapf, and Sara Wierbowski for assistance in
collecting behavioral data.
COX-3, see Kis, Snipes, & Busija, 2005). Inhibition of COX-2 is
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Patrick T. known to impair hippocampus-dependent memory consolidation
Orr, Department of Psychology, Neuroscience Program, University of in rats (Teather, Packard, & Bazan, 2002). This mechanism could
Scranton, Rear 815 Ridge Row, 200 Alumni Memorial Hall, Scranton, PA be mediated in some way by serotonin (Chen & Bazan, 2003;
18510. E-mail: patrick.orr@scranton.edu Ishida et al., 2007). Alternatively, the mnemonic effects of acet-

580
ACETAMINOPHEN DISRUPTS OBJECT-RECOGNITION MEMORY 581

aminophen could be mediated by actions on the cannabinoid by the institutional Animal Care Use Committee of the University
system. N-Arachidonoylphenolamine (AM404), a metabolite of of Scranton.
acetaminophen (Högestätt et al., 2005), acts as a cannabinoid
agonist via inhibition of cannabinoid reuptake (Fegley et al., 2004;
Object Recognition
Glaser et al., 2003), and these pathways have been linked with
memory consolidation. Direct injection of AM404 inhibits contex- Object recognition was performed to assess nonspatial hip-
tual fear memory, whereas injections of the cannabinoid receptor pocampal memory (Baker & Kim, 2002; Clark et al., 2000; Fer-
antagonist, AM481, promotes contextual fear memory (Lin et al., nandez et al., 2008). This is a one trial learning task which is,
2011). Further, agonists of cannabinoid receptor CB1 interfere consequently, ideal for examining the effects of acute drug admin-
with object-recognition memory consolidation (Clarke et al., istration on hippocampal memory consolidation. This task, which
2008). CB1 receptors are found densely within the hippocampus relies on novelty preferences inherent in mice, consists of three
(Kawamura et al., 2006), which is critically important for both phases, habituation, training, and testing, all of which take place in
contextual fear memory (Ruehle, Rey, Remmers, & Lutz, 2012) an evenly lit, white wooden box (60 cm wide ⫻ 60 cm long ⫻ 68
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and object recognition (Baker & Kim, 2002; Clark, Zola, & Squire, cm high). Each phase was separated by 24 hr. During the habitu-
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.

2000; Cohen et al., 2013; Cohen & Stackman, 2015; Stackman, ation phase, each mouse was placed into the empty chamber and
Cohen, Lora, & Rios, 2016). In addition, there are significant allowed to freely explore for 5 min. This was primarily to allow for
connections between COX-2 and endocannabinoid signaling (for the mouse to become accustomed to the box, but grid crossings
review, see Yang & Chen, 2008), suggesting that these two po- during this phase were scored to ensure there were no group
tential mechanisms downstream of acetaminophen may not be differences in locomotor behavior prior to the experimental ma-
cleanly separable. nipulation. For this analysis, a 4 ⫻ 4 grid was superimposed over
The extracellular signal-regulated kinase/mitogen activated pro- the testing chamber and grid crossings were recorded. In the
tein kinase (ERK/MAPK) signaling cascade is a well-established second phase, training, each mouse was placed into the chamber
pathway necessary for multiple hippocampus-dependent tasks, in- with two identical copies of an object positioned near the corners
cluding object recognition (Fernandez et al., 2008), the Morris of one side. The mouse was started facing the wall opposite the
water maze (Selcher, Atkins, Trzaskos, Paylor, & Sweatt, 1999), objects and was allowed to freely explore the environment and
and contextual fear conditioning (Schafe et al., 2000). The ERK/ objects until it accrued a total of 30 s of object-exploration time
MAPK pathway, which initiates cyclic adenosine monophosphate- (summed across both copies of the object). Holding constant the
response element-binding protein (CREB)-related gene transcrip- total object-exploration time rather than the total time spent in the
tion (Sweatt, 2001), is necessary for both late-phase long-term box during this phase ensures that the mice have similar memory-
potentiation (Ying et al., 2002) and metabotropic glutamate recep- trace strengths. Immediately after phase two, mice received a
tor long-term depression (Sanderson, Hogg, Collingridge, & Cor- subcutaneous injection of the vehicle or one of three doses of
rêa, 2016) in the hippocampus. Of interest, although cannabinoid acetaminophen, as described below. During the third phase, test-
signaling interferes with hippocampus-dependent memory tasks, it ing, the mouse was placed into the box along with a novel object
increases activation of the ERK/MAPK pathway both in vitro and one copy of the object used during training. The mouse was
(Derkinderen et al., 2003) and in vivo (Basavarajappa, Nagre, Xie, allowed to freely explore the box and the objects for 10 min, and
& Subbanna, 2014; Rubino, Forlani, Viganò, Zippel, & Parolaro, time spent with each object was recorded. Mice have a natural
2004). Actions of COX-2, on the other hand, tend to be associated affinity for novelty. If a mouse spent more time with the novel
with p38 MAPK, rather than p42/p44 (ERK1 and ERK2; Yang & object, it implies that the mouse had a memory of the familiar
Chen, 2008). Examining the effect of acetaminophen administra- object.
tion on hippocampal ERK activation may be useful in teasing apart During this task the two objects used were a yellow plastic box
these potential mechanisms of action. In this study, we examined and a faucet, each approximately 6 –7 cm wide and high. The
the effects of multiple doses of acetaminophen injections on mem- objects and box were cleaned with 70% ethanol between all mice
ory in the object-recognition task in mice and subsequently exam- and between all phases. The novel object (block or faucet) and side
ined ERK phosphorylation in the dorsal hippocampi of mice that the novel object was presented on were counterbalanced
receiving acetaminophen injections. We found that acetaminophen throughout the experiment. All mice were returned to their home
interferes with memory consolidation and increases ERK phos- cages between phases. Visual records of all phases were made
phorylation in the dorsal hippocampus. using a ceiling-mounted digital camera, which were stored on a
computer for later analysis. Object exploration was defined as
object-directed behavior involving contact with the snout or fore-
Method and Materials paws. Any mouse that took longer than 25 min to accrue 30 s of
object exploration during training was eliminated from the study.
Subjects This task was scored using a custom written stopwatch program
that halted as soon as criterion was met. Judgments of exploration
Male C57BL/6 mice (N ⫽ 57) were obtained from the Univer- were made by a human observer trained in the behavior.
sity of Scranton Neuroscience Mouse Breeding Colony at 8 to 12
weeks of age. All mice were housed in individual cages with ad
Drug Administration
libitum access to food and water on a 12/12 light– dark cycle
(lights on at 7:00 a.m.). All behavioral testing was conducted Following the training phase of object recognition, each mouse
during the light phase of the cycle. All procedures were approved was randomly assigned to receive a subcutaneous injection of the
582 MILEWSKI AND ORR

vehicle or one of three doses of acetaminophen (MilliporeSigma tion ratio during training were compared across groups using
#103–90-2, Burlington MA). The vehicle (n ⫽ 14) consisted of one-way ANOVAs. For Western blotting data, an independent-
0.1% 2-hydroxy-␤-cyclodextrin (HBC, MilliporeSigma #128446 – samples t test was used to check for differences in the normalized
35-5) in saline. Acetaminophen doses were 10 mg/kg (n ⫽ 14), 50 pERK/tERK values for the control and 50 mg/kg group.
mg/kg (n ⫽ 15), or 100 mg/kg (n ⫽ 14) acetaminophen in 0.1%
HBC-saline. These doses are based on doses originally used in rats Results
(Blecharz-Klin et al., 2013) to affect cognition and were not
intended for therapeutic analgesic effect. Previous work has indi-
cated that hepatotoxicity due to acetaminophen begins at 150 Object Recognition
mg/kg (Liu et al., 1999), so these doses should not have been Mice did not show a significant side preference during training
hepatotoxic for these mice. (Figure 1A). The training exploration ratio did not differ signifi-
cantly from .5 for the control, t(13) ⫽ ⫺.152, p ⫽ .881, 10 mg/kg,
Western Blotting t(13) ⫽ 1.831, p ⫽ .09, 50 mg/kg, t(14) ⫽ .124, p ⫽ .903, or 100
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mg/kg, t(13) ⫽ ⫺0.347, p ⫽ .734. In addition, the training:


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After behavioral testing, a separate group of 21 mice was exploration ratio did not differ significantly across groups, F(3,
injected with the vehicle (n ⫽ 11) or the lowest behaviorally 53) ⫽ 0.89, p ⬎ .05. There were not significant differences
effective dose of acetaminophen (50 mg/kg; n ⫽ 10) and sacrificed between groups for locomotor activity during habituation (see
one hour after injection. Each dorsal hippocampus was immedi- Table 1). Groups did not significantly differ on total grid crossings,
ately dissected out of the brain and stored at ⫺80 °C until homog- F(3, 53) ⫽ 0.499, p ⬎ .05 or on crossings in the inner, F(3, 53) ⫽
enization. Briefly, each dorsal hippocampal sample was suspended 1.664, p ⬎ .05 or outer, F(3, 53) ⫽ 0.466, p ⬎ .05 portions of the
in 1:50 weight/volume dilution of a lysis buffer and homogenized chamber. Overall, these results suggest that there were no differ-
with a probe sonicator (Misonix, Newtown, CT), then suspended ences in the mice prior to injection, and that the differences
in the sample buffer and boiled for 5 min. The homogenate was observed during testing were due to the effects of acetaminophen.
aliquoted to a concentration of 2 ␮g/␮l. Aliquots and homogenates Acetaminophen affected object-recognition memory consolida-
were stored at ⫺80 °C until Western blotting. Aliquots were then tion. Mice receiving subcutaneous injection of the vehicle and 10
electrophoresed on 10% tris-hydrochloride gels and transferred to mg/kg of acetaminophen showed a significant preference for the
an Immobilon polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) membrane. familiar object, whereas the mice receiving 50 mg/kg and 100
Western blots were blocked in 10% milk and incubated overnight mg/kg injections did not (Figure 1B). The novel exploration ratio
with antiphospho-p44/p42 ERK primary antibodies (1:2000; Cell was significantly higher than .5 for the vehicle, t(13) ⫽ 2.419, p ⫽
Signaling, Danvers, MA). Blots were then incubated with anti- .031 and 10-mg/kg, t(13) ⫽ 2.98, p ⫽ .011 groups. There was no
rabbit-horseradish peroxidase (HRP) (1:20,000; Cell Signaling) significant difference from .5 for the 50-mg/kg, t(14) ⫽ ⫺1.455,
and developed using West Dura chemiluminescent (CL) substrate p ⫽ .168 or 100-mg/kg group, t(13) ⫽ ⫺.102, p ⬎ .05. Further, a
(SuperSignal West Dura, ThermoFisher, Rockford, IL). Blots were one-way ANOVA comparing the exploration ratios of these
imaged using CL-Xposure film (ThermoFisher #34090) and den- groups was significant, F(3, 53) ⫽ 3.155, p ⫽ .032. Tukey’s
sitometry was conducted using ImageJ (https://imagej.nih.gov/). honestly significant difference post hoc testing revealed that the
Following imaging, blots were stripped using 0.2M sodium hy- 50-mg/kg group was significantly different from the control group
droxide and reprobed with antitotal-p44/p42 ERK (1:100; Cell (p ⫽ .05). This pattern of data suggests that a single posttraining
Signaling). Phosphorylated ERK (pERK) levels were normalized subcutaneous injection of acetaminophen at 50 and 100 mg/kg, but
to total ERK (tERK) levels, respectively, and expressed as percent not 10 mg/kg, is sufficient to disrupt object-recognition memory.
immunoreactivity relative to the vehicle controls.
Western Blotting
Data Analysis
Subcutaneous administration of acetaminophen affected p42
Data analyses were conducted using IBM SPSS 23 (IBM Cor- ERK phosphorylation (see Figure 2). One hr after subcutaneous
poration, Armonk, NY). In object recognition, an exploration ratio injection, dorsal hippocampal levels of phosphorylated p42 ERK
was calculated for the training and testing phases. For the testing were significantly higher in the group receiving 50 mg/kg acet-
phase, this ratio was the time spent exploring the novel object aminophen than in the vehicle-treated group, t(19) ⫽ 2.219, p ⫽
divided by the total object-exploration time (time spent exploring .039. There was not a significant difference between groups in
the novel object plus time spent exploring the familiar object). In phosphorylated p44 ERK levels, t(19) ⫽ 0.866, p ⬎ .05.
the training phase, this ratio was the time spent exploring the
object presented on the left side of the chamber divided by the total
Discussion
object-exploration time (time spent exploring both copies of the
object). If object exploration is due to chance, then these ratios In this investigation, a single subcutaneous posttraining injec-
would be expected to be approximately .5. Thus, for each group, tion of 50 mg/kg or 100 mg/kg acetaminophen interfered with
one-sample t tests were performed to determine if the exploration memory consolidation in the object-recognition task and a subcu-
ratio was significantly different from chance (.5). One-way anal- taneous injection of 50 mg/kg led to a significant increase in dorsal
ysis of variance (ANOVA) was also used to check for between- hippocampal p42 ERK phosphorylation. These data are the first to
group differences in exploration ratios. To check for preexisting demonstrate an impairment of hippocampal-dependent memory
group differences, grid crossings during habituation and explora- consolidation by acetaminophen. Although acetaminophen has
ACETAMINOPHEN DISRUPTS OBJECT-RECOGNITION MEMORY 583
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Figure 1. Exploration preferences during training and testing, by drug condition. For all data shown, each bar
represents the mean ⫾ SEM, and the dashed line represents .5, which is chance performance. (A) For training,
the exploration ratio represents time spent exploring the object on the left, divided by the total time spent
exploring objects during training. During training, no groups showed a significant side preference. (B) For
testing, the exploration ratio represents the time spent exploring the novel object, divided by the total amount of
time spent exploring objects during testing. Asterisks indicate that a group is significantly different from chance
performance (p ⱕ .05) and dagger indicates a significant difference between indicated groups (p ⱕ .05). Groups
receiving the vehicle or 10 mg/kg acetaminophen spent significantly more time with the novel object during
testing, whereas the groups receiving 50 mg/kg or 100 mg/kg did not, demonstrating an impairment in memory.

been reported to interfere with Morris water-maze performance significant impact on multiple types of learning tasks, a possibility
(Ishida et al., 2007), the multiple learning and testing trials, along that needs further investigation. The increase in ERK phosphory-
with the multiple injections of acetaminophen in that study, make lation downstream of acetaminophen is also interesting because it
the effect of acetaminophen unclear. That is, because acetamino- is concordant with the effects on ERK of cannabinoids (Basavara-
phen was present throughout the entire task, the effect observed jappa et al., 2014; Derkinderen et al., 2003; Rubino et al., 2004),
could be an effect on acquisition or some other nonmnemonic a potential downstream effector of acetaminophen.
aspect of task performance. Thus, it is not clear that this previously This correspondence is similar to the pattern of results observed
reported effect was an effect on memory consolidation. However, in other behavioral paradigms. AM404 injections reduce the dis-
in the current investigation, acetaminophen exposure was limited play of anxiety in rats in a manner dependent on CB1 receptors
to a single injection immediately following training, suggesting (Bitencourt, Pamplona, & Takahashi, 2008; Bortolato et al., 2006).
that the effects of acetaminophen were likely limited to consoli- Acute intraperitoneal injections of acetaminophen and AM404
dation. The half-life of acetaminophen in humans is on the order of also reduce the display of anxiety in mice in a CB1-dependent
2–2.5 hr (Forrest, Clements, & Prescott, 1982), which is consistent manner (Umathe, Manna, Utturwar, & Jain, 2009). Further, the
with interpreting this as a limited, consolidation-only exposure. anxiolytic actions of acetaminophen injection in mice are depen-
These data are also the first evidence that acetaminophen can dent on the activity of the fatty acid, amide hydrolase, which is
drive p42 ERK phosphorylation. This connection between acet- responsible for the synthesis of AM404 (Zaitone, El-Wakeil, &
aminophen and a signaling molecule critical for learning and Abou-El-Ela, 2012). It is possible that the effects of acetamino-
memory (Sweatt, 2001) suggests that acetaminophen could have a phen on hippocampal memory consolidation depends on the same

Table 1
Additional Behavioral Data Collected During Object Recognition

Group Total grid crossings Inner grid crossings Outer grid crossings

Vehicle 158.79 ⫾ 11.433 25.93 ⫾ 3.146 132.86 ⫾ 12.258


10 mg/kg 168.86 ⫾ 8.915 21.21 ⫾ 2.136 147.64 ⫾ 7.778
50 mg/kg 167.60 ⫾ 9.041 23.87 ⫾ 1.732 143.73 ⫾ 8.958
100 mg/kg 176.57 ⫾ 11.352 30.50 ⫾ 4.463 146.07 ⫾ 9.316
Note. Values represent the mean ⫾ SEM.
584 MILEWSKI AND ORR
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Figure 2. Phosphorylated/total ERK in the dorsal hippocampus of mice receiving the control vehicle or 50
mg/kg acetaminophen. All values were normalized to the mean for the vehicle-treated group. Each bar represents
the group mean ⫾ SEM. Asterisks indicate significant group differences (p ⱕ .05). Mice receiving 50 mg/kg
acetaminophen had significantly higher levels of phosphorylated p42 ERK relative to total p42 ERK. There were
no significant differences in p44 ERK. Representative phosphorylated ERK bands are inset. The inset image was
scaled up for this figure for clarity with the open-source GIMP software (GNU Project, Boston, MA) using cubic
interpolation, but analyses were conducted on the original, unaltered images.

mechanisms, although the current data do not offer any direct current findings further reinforce that p42 ERK appears to be the
evidence. Further investigation is needed to determine whether the ERK isoform most relevant to memory formation.
effects if acetaminophen on memory depend on CB1 signaling. Notably, previous work indicates that hepatoxicity due to acet-
In this study, the observed changes in ERK phosphorylation aminophen begins at 150 mg/kg (Liu et al., 1999), so the doses of
occurred in the dorsal hippocampus, which is not surprising, given acetaminophen that inhibited memory formation in the current
that this form of the object-recognition task depends on ERK study are not hepatotoxic. The effective doses are somewhat
signaling in the dorsal hippocampus (Fernandez et al., 2008). smaller than the dose (302.3 mg/kg) that has been shown to inhibit
Although the changes in ERK phosphorylation are compelling, the water-maze performance (Ishida et al., 2007), and are comparable
current data did not demonstrate that this ERK phosphorylation is to the maximum daily dose for an adult human (50 – 60 mg/kg),
necessary for the acetaminophen-induced impairment in this mem- suggesting that these findings are ethologically valid.
ory task. Future experiments are required to determine if this Overall, the results indicate that a single dose of acetaminophen
change in ERK phosphorylation in the dorsal hippocampus is a can impair memory consolidation and drive ERK phosphorylation
downstream mechanism critical to the effect of acetaminophen on in the dorsal hippocampus. Further work is needed to determine
hippocampal memory consolidation or if it is an unrelated phe- the downstream mechanisms of this effect and the potential effects
nomenon. on humans.
In the current investigation, acetaminophen increased p42 ERK
phosphorylation but not p44 ERK phosophorylation. Previous
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