title: Differential effects of chronic ethanol consumptions or thiamine deficiency on spatial working memory in Balb/c mice: a behavioral and neuroanatomical study.
abstract: This study was aimed to compare the effects of either a thiamine deficiency or a chronic ethanol consumption on memory and on neuronal density within the median mammillary nucleus. Results showed that alcohol-treated (48 weeks) mice exhibited a behavioral impairment in a sequential alternation task characterized by a progressive decay of alternation rates as a function of the number of trials; such a deficit was not observed in controls and thiamine-deficient subjects. A quantitative analysis using histological sections showed an important reduction of neuronal density within the mammillary bodies following the alcohol treatment but not following thiamine deficiency.
authors.affiliation: Université d' Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tako
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Beracochea
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lescaudron
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jaffard
mesh_terms: D000437:Alcoholism / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology*; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008326:Mammillary Bodies / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008568:Memory; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D009474:Neurons / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology*; D009929:Organ Size; D012016:Reference Values; D013028:Space Perception; D013832:Thiamine Deficiency / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology*