Ghazvini Hamed, Khaksari Mohammad, Esmaeilpour Khadijeh, Shabani Mohammad, Asadi-Shekaari Majid, Khodamoradi Mehdi, Sheibani Vahid
Neuroscience Research Center, Institute of Neuropharmacology, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.
Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.
Neurosci Lett. 2016 Apr 21;619:60-7. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2016.02.057. Epub 2016 Mar 2.
Methamphetamine (METH) is one of the most powerful psychostimulant that leads to long lasting cognitive impairment. Earlier researches demonstrated that ovarian hormones including estrogen and progesterone ameliorate cognitive function against various central nervous system disorders. Moreover, recent studies demonstrate a neuroprotective role against methamphetamine toxicity. In current study the effects of estrogen and progesterone alone or in combination, on spatial learning and memory in METH-exposed ovariectomized (OVX) rats are investigated. Three weeks after ovariectomy, the animals were treated by estrogen (1mg/kg, i.p.) and progesterone (8mg/kg, i.p.) alone and in combination or vehicle during 14 consecutive days. On the 28th day, rats were exposed to a single-day METH regimens (four injections of 6mg/kg, s.c, at 2h intervals) 30min after the hormones treatment. Finally, spatial learning and memory were examined using the Morris water maze 2days after the last treatment. The findings showed that estrogen and progesterone did not have significant effect on spatial learning and memory in non METH-exposed OVX rats. The treatment with estrogen and progesterone alone in METH-exposed rats, significantly improved spatial learning and memory impairment. On the other hand, the cognitive performance of animals that received combination of estrogen plus progesterone in METH-exposed rats did not significantly differ from that of METH-exposed animals that received vehicle injections. Taken together, the present findings suggest that treatment with ovarian hormones can partially improve spatial learning and memory deficits induced by methamphetamine in OVX rats.
甲基苯丙胺（METH）是最强大的精神兴奋剂之一，会导致长期的认知障碍。早期研究表明，包括雌激素和孕激素在内的卵巢激素可改善针对各种中枢神经系统疾病的认知功能。此外，最近的研究表明其对甲基苯丙胺毒性具有神经保护作用。在当前研究中，研究了单独或联合使用雌激素和孕激素对暴露于甲基苯丙胺的去卵巢（OVX）大鼠空间学习和记忆的影响。去卵巢三周后，连续14天对动物单独或联合使用雌激素（1mg/kg，腹腔注射）和孕激素（8mg/kg，腹腔注射）或溶剂。在第28天，在激素治疗30分钟后，大鼠接受单日甲基苯丙胺给药方案（四次注射6mg/kg，皮下注射，间隔2小时）。最后，在最后一次治疗2天后使用莫里斯水迷宫检查空间学习和记忆。研究结果表明，雌激素和孕激素对未暴露于甲基苯丙胺的去卵巢大鼠的空间学习和记忆没有显著影响。在暴露于甲基苯丙胺的大鼠中，单独使用雌激素和孕激素治疗可显著改善空间学习和记忆障碍。另一方面，在暴露于甲基苯丙胺的大鼠中，接受雌激素加孕激素联合治疗的动物的认知表现与接受溶剂注射的暴露于甲基苯丙胺的动物没有显著差异。综上所述，目前的研究结果表明，卵巢激素治疗可部分改善甲基苯丙胺诱导的去卵巢大鼠的空间学习和记忆缺陷。
