Isaacson R L, Yoder P E, Varner J
Department of Psychology, Binghamton University, New York 13902-6000.
Behav Neural Biol. 1994 Mar;61(2):170-6. doi: 10.1016/s0163-1047(05)80071-8.
Two experiments were undertaken in which the effects of semichronic administration of the precursor steroid, pregnenolone, were examined in a food search task. In both experiments male rats were required to find a food reward in a designated hole in an arena with 16 equally spaced holes. Hormone administration began 8 days before the onset of training. Training was given on an every-other-day schedule for five sessions. Animals were deprived of food for 18 h before training or testing. Retention testing occurred 10 days after acquisition and this was followed by 2 days of training using a different hole for the reward. The two experiments differed only in the method of hormone administration. In one experiment the rats received an implanted (sc) slow release pellet containing pregnenolone before training. In the second experiment the animals received ip injections of pregnenolone sulfate before and during initial training and then had the slow release pellet implanted between acquisition and retention. Significant enhancement of retention was found during the middle trials of the retention test when the treated and control groups from the two experiments were combined. No differences were found during acquisition training in either experiment. On the first day of training the animals to find the reward in a new location, the group injected with pregnenolone sulfate and later implanted with pregnenolone slow-release pellets exhibited performance superior to that of their matched control group.
进行了两项实验，在食物搜索任务中研究了前体类固醇孕烯醇酮半慢性给药的效果。在两项实验中，雄性大鼠都需要在一个有16个等距孔洞的竞技场中的指定孔洞中找到食物奖励。激素给药在训练开始前8天开始。训练每隔一天进行一次，共进行五轮。在训练或测试前，动物禁食18小时。在习得后10天进行记忆测试，然后使用不同的孔洞进行奖励，再进行2天的训练。两项实验仅在激素给药方法上有所不同。在一项实验中，大鼠在训练前接受植入（皮下）的含孕烯醇酮的缓释微丸。在第二项实验中，动物在初始训练前和训练期间接受硫酸孕烯醇酮腹腔注射，然后在习得和记忆测试之间植入缓释微丸。当将两项实验中的处理组和对照组合并时，在记忆测试的中间试验中发现记忆有显著增强。在两项实验的习得训练期间均未发现差异。在训练的第一天，让动物在新位置寻找奖励时，注射硫酸孕烯醇酮并随后植入孕烯醇酮缓释微丸的组表现优于其匹配的对照组。
