Sexually dimorphic cognitive style in rats emerges after puberty

Kanıt, Lütfiye; Taşkıran, Dilek; Yılmaz, Özlem; Balkan, Bedih; Demirgören, Serdar; Furedy, John J.; Pöğün, Şakire

doi:10.1016/s0361-9230(00)00232-x

Cited by 78 publications

(61 citation statements)

References 25 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Rodríguez et al (2013) showed that 30-dayold females behave like adult males, responding to the geometrical shape of the pool rather than the landmark on the preference test. The differences observed in this study were solely in their preferred mode of solution as adults, with juvenile females using the pool geometry in preference to the landmark (for a similar result, see Kanit et al, 2000). Due to the fact that ovariectomized females behaved more like younger than older rats, it was suggested that the explanation of the change in the behaviour of female rats was related to hormonal changes associated with the onset of puberty (for a similar conclusion in humans, see a revision by Voyer, Voyer, & Bryden, 1995).…”

supporting

confidence: 59%

Sex differences after environmental enrichment and physical exercise in rats when solving a navigation task

et al. 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The effects of early environmental enrichment (EE) and voluntary wheel running on the preference for using a landmark or pool geometry when solving a simple spatial task in adult male and female rats were assessed. After weaning, rats were housed in same-sex pairs in enriched or standard cages (EE and control groups) for two and a half months. Then the rats were trained in a triangular-shaped pool to find a hidden platform whose location was defined in terms of these two sources of information, a landmark outside the pool and a particular corner of the pool. As expected, enriched rats reached the platform faster than control animals, and males and females did not differ. Enriched rats also performed better on subsequent test trials without the platform with the cues individually presented (either pool geometry or landmark). However, on a preference test without the platform, a clear sex difference was found: Females spent more time in an area of the pool that corresponded to the landmark, whereas males spent more time in the distinctive corner of the pool. The present EE protocol did not alter females' preference for the landmark cue. The results agree with the claim that environmental enrichment is a consequence of a reduced anxiety response (measured by thigmotaxis) during cognitive testing. A possible implication of ancestral selection pressures is discussed.

show abstract

supporting

confidence: 59%

Sex differences after environmental enrichment and physical exercise in rats when solving a navigation task

et al. 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…They also may explain our fi nding that nicotine (0.32 mg/kg) seems to be more rewarding in female mice than in male mice in a place-conditioning paradigm. Alternatively, this result may refl ect a differential response to conditioned cues due to sexual dimorphism, similar to that reported in learning and cognitive style ( Kanit, Koylu, Erdogan, & Pogun, 2005 ;Kanit et al, 2000 ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 68%

Sex differences in response to nicotine in C57Bl/6:129SvEv mice

Isiegas

Mague²,

Blendy³

2009

Nicotine &Amp; Tobacco Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Results:Females responded more to the conditioned rewarding effects of nicotine compared with males. Males, however, seemed more responsive to the pharmacological aspects of nicotine by reducing nicotine drinking at higher concentrations; females maintained consistent levels of intake over several doses of nicotine. Male and female mice demonstrated similar locomotor and antinociceptive responses to nicotine. Discussion: These data suggest that place-conditioning and two-bottle choice paradigms may be more sensitive measures of sexual dimorphism in the C57BL/6:129SvEv hybrid mouse than are locomotor or nociception assays.

show abstract

“…Second, hormone-associated changes in brain plasticity such as neurite outgrowth, spinogenesis, synaptogenesis, and expression of neurotransmitter receptors are observed during puberty in neuroendocrine brain regions (Anderson, 1982;Cottrell et al, 2006;Gore et al, 1996;Matsumoto & Arai, 1976;Reier et al, 1977); however such analyses have not been systematically studied in hippocampal brain regions. Third, puberty is associated with alterations in learning and memory (Kanit et al, 2000;Romeo, 2003;Wright & Zecker, 2004), phenomena that are likely to be related to dendritic spine number and density in hippocampus in adults Woolley & McEwen, 1992;Woolley et al, 1990;Woolley et al, 1996). Thus, we predict that both developmental age-as well as hormonal changes occurring during puberty will alter synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…For example, ease in new language acquisition or the ability to learn a musical instrument is high prepubertally and declines thereafter (reviewed in Komarova & Nowak, 2001;Yun et al, 2004). Pubertal changes in cognitive function are also reported in rodents, in which alterations in spatial learning occur across the pubertal period (Kanit et al, 2000;Schenk, 1985). Although the mechanisms for these alterations in cognitive function are poorly understood, they may be due to developmental changes in synaptic plasticity that occur across the pubertal period.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Postpubertal decrease in hippocampal dendritic spines of female rats

Yıldırım

Mapp

Janssen

et al. 2008

Experimental Neurology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Hippocampal dendritic spine and synapse numbers in female rats vary across the estrous cycle and following experimental manipulation of hormone levels in adulthood. Based on behavioral studies demonstrating that learning patterns are altered following puberty, we hypothesized that dendritic spine number in rat hippocampal CA1 region would change post-pubertally. Female SpragueDawley rats were divided into prepubertal (postnatal day (P) 22), peripubertal (P35) and postpubertal (P49) groups, with the progression of puberty evaluated by vaginal opening, and estrous cyclicity subsequently assessed by daily vaginal smears. Spinophilin immunoreactivity in dendritic spines was used as an index of spinogenesis in area CA1 stratum radiatum (CA1sr) of hippocampus. First, electron microscopy analyses confirmed the presence of spinophilin specifically in dendritic spines of CA1sr, supporting spinophilin as a reliable marker of hippocampal spines in young female rats. Second, stereologic analysis was performed to assess the total number of spinophilin-immunoreactive puncta (i.e. spines) and CA1sr volume in developing rats. Our results indicated that the number of spinophilin-immunoreactive spines in CA1sr was decreased 46% in the post-pubertal group compared to the two younger groups, whereas the volume of the hippocampus underwent an overall increase during this same developmental time frame. Third, to determine a potential role of estradiol in this process, an additional group of rats was ovariectomized (OVX) prepubertally at P22, then treated with estradiol or vehicle at P35, and spinophilin quantified as above in rats perfused on P49. No difference in spinophilin puncta number was found in OVX rats between the two hormone groups, suggesting that this developmental decrease is independent of peripheral estradiol. These changes in spine density coincident with puberty may be related to altered hippocampal plasticity and synaptic consolidation at this phase of maturity.

show abstract

Sexually dimorphic cognitive style in rats emerges after puberty

Cited by 78 publications

References 25 publications

Sex differences after environmental enrichment and physical exercise in rats when solving a navigation task

Sex differences after environmental enrichment and physical exercise in rats when solving a navigation task

Sex differences in response to nicotine in C57Bl/6:129SvEv mice

Postpubertal decrease in hippocampal dendritic spines of female rats

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About