Estrogenic Effect on Hippocampal Theta Rhythm and Memory

描述：(改编自申请人的摘要)：最近的证据表明 雌激素治疗增强去卵巢大鼠的记忆能力 任务。类似地，人类的观察表明雌激素具有有益的作用。 阿尔茨海默病认知功能的治疗。然而，那些细胞 直接参与记忆过程的性腺激素的靶点是 定义不清。唯一可靠的观察是全身荷尔蒙 手法会导致脊椎密度的变化和 海马CA1区锥体细胞NMDA受体的免疫染色强度 细胞。然而，海马区的主神经元本身并没有，只有一小部分 中间神经元群含有核雌激素受体。另一方面 手，皮质下区域的神经元，包括内侧隔斜带 Broca区(MSDB)、乳头上区(SUM)和中缝中缝(MR)包含 核雌激素受体，这些结构与 海马theta活动和长时程增强的产生/调节。 此外，海马theta活动，这是很大的影响， 循环雌激素水平的变化，与长期服用 增强被认为与记忆过程有关。因此， 假设雌激素除了直接影响海马体外， 通过影响这些皮质下区域来调节助记过程 通过旨在检查Intra-MR、-MSDB和 -卵巢摘除大鼠在以下时间给予雌激素： 1)海马CA1区锥体细胞树突棘密度的变化； 2)大鼠脑内离子型谷氨酸受体的mRNA和多肽水平 海马区； 3)海马theta活动。

DESCRIPTION: (Adapted from applicant's abstract): Recent evidence indicates that estrogen treatment in ovariectomized rats enhances performance on memory tasks. Similarly, human observations suggest a beneficial effect of estrogen treatment on cognitive function in Alzheimer's disease. However, those cellular targets of gonadal hormones that are directly involved in memory processes are ill defined. The only solid observations are that systemic hormonal manipulations result in changes in the density of spines and alterations in the intensity of immunostaining for NMDA receptor of hippocampal CAl pyramidal cells. However, hippocampal principal neurons themselves do not, only a small population of interneurons contains nuclear estrogen receptor. On the other hand, neurons in subcortical areas, including the medial septum diagonal band of Broca (MSDB), supramammillary area (SUM), and median raphe (MR) contain nuclear estrogen receptors, and these structures are associated with the generation/regulation of hippocampal theta activity and long term potentiation. Furthermore, hippocampal theta activity, which is greatly influenced by the changing levels of circulating estrogen, in conjunction with long-term potentiation is believed to be involved in memory processes. Therefore, the hypothesis that estrogen, in addition to influencing the hippocampus directly, regulates mnemonic processes by affecting these subcortical areas will be tested by experiments designed to examine the effects of intra-MR, -MSDB, and -SUM administration of estrogen in ovariectomized rats on: 1) changes in dendritic spine density of hippocampal CAl pyramidal cells; 2) mRNA and peptide levels of ionotropic glutamate receptors in the hippocampus; 3) hippocampal theta activity.