title: Spatial learning and memory in male mice with altered growth hormone action.
abstract: Growth hormone (GH) has a significant influence on cognitive performance in humans and other mammals. To understand the influence of altered GH action on cognition, we assessed spatial learning and memory using a Barnes maze (BM) comparing twelve-month old, male, bovine GH (bGH) and GH receptor antagonist (GHA) transgenic mice and their corresponding wild type (WT) littermates. During the acquisition training period in the BM, bGH mice showed increased latency, traveled longer path lengths and made more errors to reach the target than WT mice, indicating significantly poorer learning. Short-term memory (STM) and long-term memory (LTM) trials showed significantly suppressed memory retention in bGH mice when compared to the WT group. Conversely, GHA mice showed significantly better learning parameters (latency, path length and errors) and increased use of an efficient search strategy than WT mice. Our study indicates a negative impact of GH excess and a beneficial effect of the inhibition of GH action on spatial learning and memory and, therefore, cognitive performance in male mice. Further research to elucidate GH's role in brain function will facilitate identifying therapeutic applications of GH or GHA for neuropathological and neurodegenerative conditions.
authors.affiliation: Molecular and Cellular Biology Program, Edison Biotechnology Institute, Ohio University, Athens, OH, United States; Department of Biological Sciences, Edison Biotechnology Insitute, Ohio University, Athens, OH, United States. Electronic address: amrita.basu0502@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Amrita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Basu
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Kenyon College, Gambier, OH, United States. Electronic address: mcfarlaneh@kenyon.edu.
authors.forename: Hewlet G
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: McFarlane
authors.affiliation: Molecular and Cellular Biology Program, Edison Biotechnology Institute, Ohio University, Athens, OH, United States; Department of Biomedical Sciences, Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, Edison Biotechnology Institute, Ohio University, Athens, OH, United States. Electronic address: kopchick@ohio.edu.
authors.forename: John J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Kopchick
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D013006:Growth Hormone / Q000819:agonists / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D011485:Protein Binding; D065853:Spatial Learning / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: C073294:growth hormone, bovine; D013006:Growth Hormone
keywords: Barnes maze; GHA; Growth hormone; Insulin-like growth factor 1; Memory; Mouse; Search strategy; Spatial learning; bGH