مرکز منطقه ای اطلاع رساني علوم و فناوري -

چكيده لاتين :

Background: The effect of ovariectomy and accompanying sudden loss of circulating gonad hormones on spatial learning performance in the young adult rats was examined. We hypothesized that spatial learning and memory in a considerable number of women who undergo a surgical menopause and estrogen deprivation before their natural menopause be impaired. Methods: In this study, we used 26 Wistar rats (approximately five months of age) and divided them into two groups: intact and ovariectomized (OVX). They were tested for spatial reference memory in Morris water maze 6 weeks after OVX. Results: The results showed that the performance ofOVX group in the water maze was significantly lower than the control group. Although, mean path length decreased across blocks in both groups, OYX rats had significantly longer path length than controls across blocks 2-6 (P(LESS THAN0.05). OVX rats had lower percent of total time spent in target quarter than controls in probe trials (P(LESS THAN0.05). Body weight gain was significant only in OVX group during the experiment (P(LESS THAN)0.05). Plasma estrogen significantly decreased after OVX (P(LESS THAN0.05). Conclusion: This finding provides further evidence for the role of estrogen, a gonadal steroid hormone, in the manipulation of functions related to learning and memory. It is suggested that estrogen loss following OVX impaired spatial reference memory in young adult rats. Our results suggest that it is necessary to protect women who undergo a surgical menopause before their natural menopause from cognition impairments. Iran. Biomed J 12 (2): 123-128, 2008