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Subchronic treatment with 17alpha‐ethynil estradiol partially recovers the ability of ovariectomized rats to learn an autoshaped task
Author(s) -
Marquez Sandra,
Picazo Ofir,
Suarez Jorge
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.23.1_supplement.758.1
Subject(s) - ovariectomized rat , estrogen , hippocampus , cognition , menopause , endocrinology , medicine , basal forebrain , osteoporosis , psychology , neuroscience , central nervous system
Estrogen induces cyclic changes in synapse formation and spine density of the hippocampus and increases the synthesis of acetylcholine in basal forebrain. This information leads one to consider that estrogen could have effect on hippocampus‐dependent cognitive functions such as memory and learning. In contrast, ovariectomy‐induced (OVX) long‐term absence of estrogens seems to be responsible for deterioration in cognitive processes. Removal of ovaries in rats was early used as a model for post‐menopausal osteoporosis. Recently, this surgery has been proposed to study the human post‐menopause. Since cognitive abilities decrease during this non reproductive condition of human females, it is likely that rats display a similar decrease of cognitive capabilities after long‐term OVX. This study was designed to analyze the performance of rats in an autoshaped task at different times after OVX. Under these experimental circumstances, the role of the synthetic estrogen 17alpha‐ethynil estradiol was tested. Results show a loss of the capacity of learning in the aforementioned task 12 weeks after OVX. At the same time, ethynilestradiol partially reduced these actions. These long‐term effects of OVX support the idea that this surgical manipulation could be a useful model for understanding some alterations associated to human post‐menopause. Support; COFAA and SIP‐IPN.