Cortistatin 14 is a somatastatin-like neuropeptide with neuronal depressant and sleep modulating properties. Cortistatin 14 is present primarily in the cortex and hippocampus. In the hippocampus, cortistatin 14 inhibits pyramidal cell firing and co-exists with GABA. To determine if cortistatin-14 would impair retention, saline or cortistatin 14 was injected intracerebroventricularly after footshock avoidance training into each of a group of CD-1 mice. After one week, training was resumed to determine the effect of cortistatin 14 on retention. Cortistatin 14 was found to impair retention relative to the control group at doses of 0.5-5.0 micrograms.