Harrell L E, Parsons D S
Department of Neurology, Veterans Administration Medical Center, Birmingham, Alabama.
Exp Neurol. 1988 Feb;99(2):315-25. doi: 10.1016/0014-4886(88)90150-1.
Following cholinergic denervation of the hippocampal formation, peripheral sympathetic nerves originating from the superior cervical ganglia grow into the hippocampus. As gender is known to alter the anatomy of hippocampal sympathetic ingrowth, we assessed the effect of this variable on the behavioral recovery following ingrowth. Adult male or female rats were trained on a standard version of a radial-8-arm maze task until they reached a specific learning criterion. Animals from each sex then underwent one of three surgical procedures: sham surgery, medial septal lesions plus superior cervical ganglionectomy, or medial septal lesion plus sham ganglionectomy. Reacquisition of the maze was then assessed. Prior to surgery, male animals acquired the task significantly faster than female animals. Following surgery male and female rats recovered overall performance at similar rates. However, marked group differences were observed. In males, the control group recovered faster than the group with medial septal lesion plus ganglionectomy, which recovered faster than the medial septal lesion group. In females, the control group recovered faster than the medial septal lesion group, which in turn recovered faster than the medial septal ganglionectomy group. The results of this study clearly demonstrate that gender can influence the behavioral effects of hippocampal sympathetic ingrowth. We believe that this is the first report in which gender has been shown to alter the behavioral effect of a neuronal reorganization.
海马结构胆碱能去神经支配后，源自颈上神经节的外周交感神经长入海马体。由于已知性别会改变海马体交感神经长入的解剖结构，我们评估了这一变量对长入后行为恢复的影响。成年雄性或雌性大鼠在标准的放射状八臂迷宫任务上进行训练，直到达到特定的学习标准。然后，来自每个性别的动物接受三种手术程序之一：假手术、内侧隔损伤加颈上神经节切除术，或内侧隔损伤加假神经节切除术。然后评估迷宫重新学习的情况。手术前，雄性动物比雌性动物更快地掌握任务。手术后，雄性和雌性大鼠以相似的速度恢复整体表现。然而，观察到明显的组间差异。在雄性中，对照组恢复得比内侧隔损伤加神经节切除术组更快，而内侧隔损伤加神经节切除术组又比内侧隔损伤组恢复得更快。在雌性中，对照组恢复得比内侧隔损伤组更快，而内侧隔损伤组又比内侧隔神经节切除术组恢复得更快。本研究结果清楚地表明，性别可影响海马体交感神经长入的行为效应。我们认为这是首次表明性别可改变神经元重组行为效应的报告。
