Prenatal testosterone improves the spatial learning and memory by protein synthesis in different lobes of the brain in the male and female rat

Gurzu, Cristian G.; Artenie, Vlad; Hrițcu, Lucian; Ciobîcă, Alin

doi:10.2478/s11535-008-0003-z

Cited by 19 publications

(17 citation statements)

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“…These findings might be explained by the effects of prenatal testosterone (T) affecting the very early development of brain tissues. The importance of prenatal testosterone on later spatial abilities was shown for humans [8], as well as for rats [9]. The long-term effects of T on brain development are called organizational effects [10][11][12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of exogenous testosterone on spatial memory in rats

et al. 2010

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Testosterone (T) is known to affect spatial abilities in men and women. Studies focusing on this relationship showed that both endogenous variability of T and administration of exogenous T, altered mental rotation and spatial visualization. Organizational and activational effects of T can be separately identified. The aim of our study was to evaluate the activational effects of exogenous T on spatial memory in male and female rats. T was administered 3 times a week over a two week period in either 1 mg/kg for low testosterone group or 10 mg/kg for high testosterone group. The Morris water maze was performed to assess the rat's working and reference spatial memory. T and estradiol levels were measured in plasma. Increase in plasma T levels was confirmed in the experimental groups in comparison to the control groups (receiving sterile oil, 3 times a week over a two week period). Low dose T impaired working, but improved reference memory in female rats. In male rats the negative effects of T (both doses) on reference memory were shown. This experiment showed that the activational effects of exogenous testosterone on spatial memory of rats were gender and dose-dependent.© Versita Sp. z o.o.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of exogenous testosterone on spatial memory in rats

et al. 2010

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“…The importance of prenatal testosterone on later spatial abilities was shown for rats [12] and for humans [13]. Nevertheless, administration of androgens in adulthood leads to several controversial results.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of rapid and depot testosterone and estradiol on spatial performance in water maze

Hodosy¹,

Ostatníková

Riljak

et al. 2012

Open Life Sciences

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The effect of rapid and depot testosterone and estradiol on spatial performance in water maze of receptor types. So, particular brain regions can be targets for the actions of different classes of steroids. For example, estrogen receptors are thinly distributed in the neocortex of the rat, but are prevalent in preoptic and hypothalamic areas and the anterior pituitary. Also some neurons express receptors for more than one steroid.Authors reported testosterone modified spatial abilities resulting from animal research [3] and clinical studies of individuals exposed prenatally to unusual hormone environments. Congenital adrenal hyperplasia results in women with enhanced spatial performance [4], as does a lifelong deficiency in gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) in men [5].Cent. Eur. J. Biol. • 7(4) • 2012 • 596-602 DOI: 10.2478/s11535-012-0046-z IntroductionAlthough there is no major difference in performance in current standardized intelligence tests between females and males, there are described sex differences in particular subtypes of the tests [1]. These have been reported in certain cognitive tasks for many years, and it appears that testosterone (TST) and other androgens play a crucial role [2]. Spatial learning and memory have been one of the major topics of interest since the late seventies. Keywords: Water maze • Spatial performance • Testosterone • Estradiol • Hippocampus • RatsAbstract: Men and women differ in some cognitive functions including spatial abilities. These differences seem to be affected by sex steroids, but the results are controversial. The aim of this work is to describe the effects of rapid or depot testosterone and estradiol on spatial memory in rats. Thirty-two adult male Wistar rats were divided into 6 groups. Five groups were gonadectomized, and one group was left as control. Castrated groups received sterile oil, testosterone isobutyras, testosterone propionate, estradiol dipropionate or estradiol benzoate. We evaluated spatial performance (escape latency, overall improvement, and time in the quadrant after platform removal) of the rats in a spatial water maze. Animals receiving exogenous sex steroids showed higher plasma concentrations of the particular hormones. Experimental groups improved during the acquisition spatial trials in the water maze. No significant differences between the groups during probe trial were found. In overall improvement, the testosterone depot and estradiol depot groups showed less improvement in comparison to the control groups (P<0.05). No differences in respect to administered hormones were found in corresponding receptor gene expression in hippocampus. In conclusion, exogenous testosterone affects spatial memory of adult castrated males.

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“…Also, the time taken to consume all five baits was also recorded. Reference memory is regarded as a long-term memory for information that remains constant over repeated trials (memory for the positions of baited arms), whereas working memory is considered a shorttime memory in which the information to be remembered changes in every trial (memory for the positions of arms that had already been visited in each trial) (29).…”

Section: Radial Eight Arm Maze Taskmentioning

confidence: 99%