Basic and Clinical Neuroscience Journal

en Chronic Treatment by L-NAME differently Affects Morris Water Maze Tasks in Ovariectomized and Naïve Female Rats Clinical Neuroscience Clinical Neuroscience Original Original Introduction: The role of ovarian hormones and nitric oxide (NO) in learning and memory and their interaction has been widely investigated. The present study carried out to evaluate different effect of L-NAME on spatial learning and memory of ovariectomized (OVX) and sham operated rats. Methods: 32 rats were divided into 4 groups: 1) Sham 2) OVX 3) Sham-LN and 4) OVX-LN. The animals of groups 3 and 4 were treated by L-NAME (10 mg/kg/ day) for 8 weeks while the animals of groups 1 and 2 received saline (1ml/kg/day) instead of L-NAME. The animals of all groups were then tested in Morris water maze during five days. The escape latency and traveled distance were compared between groups. Results: Distance and time in OVX group was significantly higher than Sham group (p<0.01 and p<0.05). Time and distance in Sham-LN group was higher in comparison with Sham group (p<0.05 and p<0.01). There were no significant differences between OVX-LN and OVX groups in escape latency and traveled distance. Discussion: The results of present study showed that removal of ovarian hormones could impair Morris water maze tskas includiong time and distance. Administarion of non specific nitricoxide inhibitor, L-NAME, affects Morrsi water maze tasks however, its effect is different in the absence and presence of ovarian hormones but it needs to be more investigated. Ovariectomy,Female Rat,Morris Water Maze,Morris Water Maze, 47 52 http://bcn.iums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1-75&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Mahmoud Hosseini 1370031947532846001214 1370031947532846001214 Yes Azadeh Feizpour 1370031947532846001215 1370031947532846001215 No Mohsen Rezaeipour 1370031947532846001216 1370031947532846001216 No Atefeh Amani 1370031947532846001217 1370031947532846001217 No Fatima Saffarzadeh 1370031947532846001218 1370031947532846001218 No Esmaeil Farrokhi 1370031947532846001219 1370031947532846001219 No