Females exhibit superior object location memory (OLM) compared to males, but the reasons for this sex difference remains unknown. This thesis investigates the role of the dentate gyrus (DG) in an OLM task in normal rats (Experiment 1) and after bilateral adrenalectomy (ADX; Experiment 2). ADX is known to reduce volume of the DG and impair spatial learning. There was no sex difference for OLM in Experiment 1 but females exhibited superior OLM in Experiment 2. Experiment 2 found a significantly smaller DG due to ADX but this had no effect on behaviour. The male DG was significantly larger than the female DG in both experiments. Behaviour during the OLM task was not a predictor of DG volume, although a larger than average DG was related to poor OLM memory in females Thus, the DG involvement for OLM appears to differ between the sexes. / ix, 72 leaves : ill. ; 29 cm
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:ALU.w.uleth.ca/dspace#10133/2476 |
Date | January 2010 |
Creators | Ehresman, Crystal, University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science |
Contributors | Saucier, Deb |
Publisher | Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Dept. of Neuroscience, c2010, Arts and Science, Department of Neuroscience |
Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
Language | en_US |
Detected Language | English |
Type | Thesis |
Relation | Thesis (University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science) |
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