Rapid effects of estrogen receptor alpha and beta selective agonists on learning and dendritic spines in female mice
Year: 2008
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Estrogen receptors (ER) alpha and beta are involved in different aspects of cognition and neuronal plasticity through genomic mechanisms. However, little is known about the rapid, non-genomic effects of estrogens on cognitive function. Therefore, this thesis investigated the rapid effects of ER[alpha] selective agonist propyl pyrazole triole (PPT) and ER[beta] selective agonist diarylpropionitrol (DPN) on three estrogen-sensitive learning paradigms: social recognition, object recognition and object placement. Rapid effects of PPT and DPN on neuronal plasticity were also examined through changes in hippocampal dendritic spine length and density. Results suggest ER[alpha] activation rapidly enhances learning and increases dendritic spine length and density. However, ER[beta] activation may impair social and object recognition learning and improve object placement learning, but has no effect on dendritic spine length or density in the CA1 hippocampus. This suggests both ER[alpha] and ER[beta] mediate different, rapid effects on cognition and neuronal plasticity.
Author: Phan, Anna
Language: English
Subfield: Endocrinology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7070726083