Corticosterone disrupts spatial working memory during retention testing when highly taxed, which positively correlates with depressive-like behavior in middle-aged, ovariectomized female rats.
Horm Behav
; 164: 105600, 2024 Aug.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-39003890
ABSTRACT
Major Depressive Disorder affects 8.4 % of the U.S. population, particularly women during perimenopause. This study implemented a chronic corticosterone manipulation (CORT, a major rodent stress hormone) using middle-aged, ovariectomized female rats to investigate depressive-like behavior, anxiety-like symptoms, and cognitive ability. CORT (400 µg/ml, in drinking water) was administered for four weeks before behavioral testing began and continued throughout all behavioral assessments. Compared to vehicle-treated rats, CORT significantly intensified depressive-like behaviors CORT decreased sucrose preference, enhanced immobility on the forced swim test, and decreased sociability on a choice task between a novel conspecific female rat and an inanimate object. Moreover, CORT enhanced anxiety-like behavior on a marble bury task by reducing time investigating tabasco-topped marbles. No effects were observed on novelty suppressed feeding or the elevated plus maze. For spatial working memory using an 8-arm radial arm maze, CORT did not alter acquisition but disrupted performance during retention. CORT enhanced the errors committed during the highest working memory load following a delay and during the last trial requiring the most items to remember; this cognitive metric positively correlated with a composite depressive-like score to reveal that as depressive-like symptoms increased, cognitive performance worsened. This protocol allowed for the inclusion of multiple behavioral assessments without stopping the CORT treatment needed to produce a MDD phenotype and to assess a battery of behaviors. Moreover, that when middle-age was targeted, chronic CORT produced a depressive-like phenotype in ovariectomized females, who also comorbidly expressed aspects of anxiety and cognitive dysfunction.
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Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Corticosterona
/
Ovariectomia
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Depressão
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Memória Espacial
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Memória de Curto Prazo
Limite:
Animals
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Horm Behav
Ano de publicação:
2024
Tipo de documento:
Article