Genomic and nongenomic effects of intrahippocampal microinjection of testosterone on long-term memory in male adult rats.
In addition to their well-known genomic effects via intracellular receptors, androgens rapidly alter neuronal excitability through a nongenomic pathway. The nongenomic effect of testosterone, as the main androgen, apart from its traditional effects, was assessed in one of the fundamental centers of learning and memory, the hippocampus, on long-term memory (LTM) in passive avoidance conditioning. Different doses of testosterone enanthate (T) or testosterone-BSA (T-BSA) bilaterally were injected into the CA1 region of the hippocampus 15 min before shock delivery (1 mA during 5 s) in a two-compartment passive avoidance apparatus. After 24 h, animals were tested for passive avoidance retrieval. Bilateral injection of 20 microg T or 55 microg T-BSA into the CA1 significantly decreases step-through latency. Therefore, it seems that testosterone can impair LTM in passive avoidance conditioning both via intracellular receptors and through nongenomic pathway.
Naghdi
Nasser
N
Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Pasteur Ave., Tehran 13164, Iran. nnaghdiir@yahoo.com
Asadollahi
Ali
A
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000187:drug effects; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D016678:Genome; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D008845:Microinjections / Q000379:methods; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000187:drug effects; D013739:Testosterone / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000494:pharmacology*
D013739:Testosterone