title: Effects of corticosterone on contextual fear consolidation in intact and ovariectomized female rats.
abstract: Previous studies have shown that post-training administration of glucocorticoids enhances memory consolidation in male rats, but theirs effects on female rats are not known. Thus, this study was conducted to examine the effects of corticosterone (CORT) on contextual fear memory consolidation in intact and ovariectomized (OVX) female rats. In Experiment 1, post-training administration of CORT (0.3, 3, and 10 mg/kg) to OVX female rats impaired memory consolidation at a 0.3 mg dose of CORT. In Experiment 2, post-training injection of CORT (0.3 mg/kg) to female rats in proestrus stage (when the levels of estrogens are highest) enhances and in the estrus stage (when the levels of estrogens are lowest) impaired memory retention. In Experiment 3, OVX female rats injected with CORT (0.3 mg/kg) and one of the three doses of 17β-estradiol (1, 10 or 100 μg/kg) following training. 48-h memory retention test indicated that CORT enhanced memory retention in OVX female rats that received concurrent injection of 10 or 100 μg doses of 17β-estradiol. These findings indicate that cognitive effects of CORT in female rats can be modulated with the plasma levels of estrogens: when the levels of estrogens are low, corticosterone has a negative effect, while when the levels of estrogens are high; the corticosterone has a positive enhancing effect.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Learning and Memory, Research Center and Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran.
authors.forename: Adel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kashefi
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Learning and Memory, Research Center and Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran. Electronic address: Rashidy-pour@semums.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rashidy-Pour
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003345:Corticosterone / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004967:Estrogens / Q000097:blood*; D030762:Estrous Cycle / Q000097:blood*; D005239:Fear / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D010052:Ovariectomy; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar
chemical_list: D004967:Estrogens; D003345:Corticosterone
keywords: 17β-estradiol; Fear conditioning; Glucocorticoids; Memory consolidation; Ovariectomy