TY - JOUR
T1 - Comparative behavioral changes between male and female postpubertal rats following neonatal excitotoxic lesions of the ventral hippocampus
AU - Silva-Gómez, Adriana B.
AU - Bermudez, Martha
AU - Quirion, Remi
AU - Srivastava, Lalit K.
AU - Picazo, Ofir
AU - Flores, Gonzalo
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was supported in part by grants from CONACyT-Mexico (No. 30675-M and 30906-M) and Fundación Mexicana para la Salud AC. We are grateful to Dr Carlos Escamilla for his help and suggestions related to keeping of animals. A.B.S.G. is a student from ESM-IPN and M.B. is a student from BUAP. G.F. and O.P. are members of the Researcher National System of Mexico. L.K.S. and R.Q. are Chercheur-boursier and Chercheur-boursier de mérite exceptionel of the FRSQ.
PY - 2003/5/30
Y1 - 2003/5/30
N2 - Neonatal ventral hippocampal (nVH) lesioned male rat has been used as a model to test the hypothesis that early neurodevelopmental abnormalities lead to behavioral changes putatively linked to schizophrenia. There are significant gender differences in schizophrenia with male and female individuals differing in the age of onset, course and outcome of the disorder. In order to assess whether the behavioral effects of nVH lesions extend to or are different in female rats, we investigated spontaneous locomotion, grooming, social interactions and spatial memory in male and female rats post-pubertally at postnatal day (P) 56 following bilateral ibotenic acid of the ventral hippocampus at P7. The spontaneous locomotor activity in a novel environment of both male and female nVH lesioned rats was significantly enhanced compared to their respective sham-operated controls. In tests of social interactions, the number of encounters was significantly decreased in female lesioned rats, whereas the male nVH lesioned rats showed a significantly reduced duration of active social interactions. Furthermore, Morris water maze test showed a deficit of spatial learning/memory in only male lesioned rats with significant decrease in the latency to find hidden platform. These results suggest that while nVH lesions affect post-pubertal behavior in both sexes of rats, the males appear to be affected to a greater extent than the females underscoring the influence of sex differences in the development of behaviors in the nVH lesioned animals.
AB - Neonatal ventral hippocampal (nVH) lesioned male rat has been used as a model to test the hypothesis that early neurodevelopmental abnormalities lead to behavioral changes putatively linked to schizophrenia. There are significant gender differences in schizophrenia with male and female individuals differing in the age of onset, course and outcome of the disorder. In order to assess whether the behavioral effects of nVH lesions extend to or are different in female rats, we investigated spontaneous locomotion, grooming, social interactions and spatial memory in male and female rats post-pubertally at postnatal day (P) 56 following bilateral ibotenic acid of the ventral hippocampus at P7. The spontaneous locomotor activity in a novel environment of both male and female nVH lesioned rats was significantly enhanced compared to their respective sham-operated controls. In tests of social interactions, the number of encounters was significantly decreased in female lesioned rats, whereas the male nVH lesioned rats showed a significantly reduced duration of active social interactions. Furthermore, Morris water maze test showed a deficit of spatial learning/memory in only male lesioned rats with significant decrease in the latency to find hidden platform. These results suggest that while nVH lesions affect post-pubertal behavior in both sexes of rats, the males appear to be affected to a greater extent than the females underscoring the influence of sex differences in the development of behaviors in the nVH lesioned animals.
KW - Female rat
KW - Grooming behavior
KW - Male rat
KW - Memory and learning
KW - Neonatal ventral hippocampus lesion
KW - Social behavior
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=18744422184&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/S0006-8993(03)02537-X
DO - 10.1016/S0006-8993(03)02537-X
M3 - Artículo
SN - 0006-8993
VL - 973
SP - 285
EP - 292
JO - Brain Research
JF - Brain Research
IS - 2
ER -