Effects of estradiol and dexamethasone on choline acetyltransferase activity in various rat brain regions

Kaufman, H.; Vadász, Csaba; Lajtha, Ábel

doi:10.1016/0006-8993(88)90185-0

Cited by 45 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Ditkof f et al [33] observed an overall improvement in mood and quality of life in postmenopausal women on ERT. However, the mechanism by which estrogen may affect cognitive and emotional functions in DAT has not yet been clarified, but the following possible explanations might be considered: links between estrogen and the synthesis of acetylcholine [9] and the activity of ChAT [10,11,12] and the effects of estrogen on neural cells [34]. Hagino [19] demonstrated that early-aging females exhibited a decrease in hippocampal function that was restored with supplemental E2 administration.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In contrast, estrogen administration influences cholinergic function [9] and has been associated with an increase in the activity of ChAT [10,11,12], and an increase in the binding sites of hypothalamic n-Ach-R in rats [13]. The effects of estrogen in rats, however, show sex differences: estradiol administration increased the activity of ChAT in the nucleus of the diagonal band in oophorectomized females, but caused decreases or had no effect in castrated males [14].…”

Section: Disturbancementioning

confidence: 99%

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Evaluation of Estrogen Treatment in Female Patients with Dementia of the Alzheimer Type.

et al. 1994

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Abstract. This study was designed to investigate the therapeutic efficacy of estrogen in female patients with dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT). Fifteen DAT patients with a mean age of (x ± SE) 71.9 ± 2.4 years were treated with 0.625 mg of conjugated equine estrogens orally twice a day for 6 weeks. Of the 15 DAT patients, 4 were diagnosed as mild, 7 as moderate and 4 as severe. The effects of estrogen on DAT patients were evaluated by psychometric assessments, behavior rating scales, regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) measurement and quantitative EEG analysis. Psychometric assessments consisted of Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Hasegawa Dementia Scale (HDS). Dementia syndromes were evaluated by the CBS-Scale (GBSS) and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS). During estrogen replacement therapy (ERT), the mean MMSE score (x ± SE) increased significantly from 11.6 ± 1.9 to 13.2 ± 2.0 at 3 weeks (P<0.01) and 13.8 ± 2.0 at 6 weeks (P<0.001). The mean HDS score increased significantly from 8.6 ± 2.1 to 11.5 ± 2.3 at 3 weeks (P<0.001) and 11.6 ± 2.6 at 6 weeks (P<0.01). Significant improvements in the mean scores of the GBSS and HDRS were also observed in the estrogentreated group, but not in the untreated control group with a mean age of 71.2 ± 2.5 years (n=15). The rCBF was measured by single photon emission computed tomography (SPELT). ERT increased the mean rCBF significantly in the lower frontal region (P<0.01) and primary motor area (P<0.02) of the right hemisphere. The mean absolute power delta band values in both left and right frontal EEG (Fp, and Fp2) (P<0.01) and theta1 band values in Fp2 (P<0.05) decreased significantly during ERT. It is inferred that ERT significantly improves cognitive functions, dementia symptoms, regional cerebral blood flow and EEG activity in female patients with DAT.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Disturbancementioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of Estrogen Treatment in Female Patients with Dementia of the Alzheimer Type.

et al. 1994

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“…Glucocorticoids, secreted during stress, have been shown to influence behavioral response and the structural organization of the central nervous system in both young and adult animals (11,12,31). Further, adrenocortical hormones influence the rate of hippocampal neuronal death that occurs following neuropathological insults and in aging processes (32).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adrenalectomy decreases nerve growth factor in young adult rat hippocampus.

Aloe

1989

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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The effect of adrenalectomy on the level of nerve growth factor (NGF) in the hippocampus and on the distribution of choline acetyltransferase i ureactivity in forebrain cholinergic neurons of developing rats was studied. Biological and immunohistochemical determinations indicated that in 40-day-old rats, adrenalectomy reduced the NGF level in the hippocampus and the choline acetyltrsferase immunoreactivity in the septal lateral bands. Furthermore, autoradiographic studies showed that adrenalectomy causes changes in the distribution and expression of NGF receptors in the hippocampus. These results suggest that adrenal hormones are involved in the regulation of the NGF level in the hippocampus and of NGF receptors in the septum.Nerve growth factor (NGF) is a polypeptide found in both the peripheral (1) and the central (2) nervous system. In the rat central nervous system, the hippocampus contains one of the highest levels of NGF and of mRNA encoding NGF (2-5). Several lines of evidence indicate that NGF is synthesized within the hippocampus, taken up selectively by cholinergic neurons of the septal lateral band (SLB) terminals, and transported retrogradely to the cell of origin (6-9). Intrahippocampal injection of NGF antibodies causes granule cell loss (10), further suggesting that NGF plays a physiological role in the central nervous system. The hippocampus is a major target site of glucocorticoid hormones, particularly corticosterone, and administration ofglucocorticoids early in development influences brain and somatic growth (11). Furthermore, recent in vitro and in vivo studies have shown that glucocorticoids have a profound influence on the survival of hippocampal neurons (12). Whether or not these hormonal activities affect the level of NGF in the hippocampus and the distribution of NGF receptors in the basal forebrain cholinergic neurons has yet to be explored. The present studies show that in developing rats, adrenalectomy significantly reduces the level of NGF in the hippocampus and of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) immunoreactivity in the cholinergic neurons of the SLB while enhancing a concomitant increase of NGF receptor expression in the septal neurons. A preliminary account of these studies has been presented.* MATERIALS AND METHODSAnimals and Adrenalectomy. Forty-day-old SpragueDawley rats (90-100 g) were purchased from Nossan (Calco, Italy). Rats were subjected either to bilateral adrenalectomy or to sham operation (laparotomy) under ether anesthesia. Corticosterone (Sigma) was dissolved in ethanol/saline, 1:9 (vol/vol), and injected intradermally into the adrenalectomized (Adx) rats at doses of 2 gg every other day for 2 weeks. Adx rats were given 0.9% NaCl in place of drinking water to compensate for the loss of salt.Mouse NGF (2.5S) was purified from male mouse submaxillary glands (13). Polyclonal NGF antibodies were prepared (14,15) and purified by affinity chromatography (16).Biological Assays. At intervals, control and treated rats were killed with an overdose of ether vapor and ...

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“…Since the 1960s, it has been recognized that lesions of the dorsal striatum or pharmacological manipulations of striatal function modulate inhibitory avoidance memory (Kirkby and Kimble 1968;Haycock et al 1973;Prado-Alcalá et al 1975, 1980, 2003 Pérez-Ruíz and PradoAlcalá 1989;Chavez et al 1995). Although GRs are known to be moderately expressed in the dorsal striatum (Defiore and Turner 1983; Harlan 1990, 1991;Morimoto et al 1996) and glucocorticoids alter the activity of several neurotransmitter and receptor systems in this brain region (Kaufman et al 1988;Mailleux and Vanderhaeghen 1993;Ngai and Herbert 2005), studies have not, as yet, investigated whether glucocorticoids administered into the dorsal striatum modulate memory consolidation. To investigate this issue, a first experiment examined whether post-training intra-striatal administration of corticosterone (i.e., the rat's natural glucocorticoid) enhanced memory consolidation of inhibitory avoidance training.…”

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confidence: 99%

Glucocorticoid administration into the dorsal stratium facilitates memory consolidation of inhibitory avoidance training but not of the context or footshock components

Medina¹,

Charles²,

Espinoza-González³

et al. 2007

Learn. Mem.

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It is well established that glucocorticoid administration into a variety of brain regions facilitates memory consolidation of fear-conditioning tasks, including inhibitory avoidance. The present findings indicate that the natural glucocorticoid corticosterone administered into the dorsal striatum (i.e., caudate nucleus) of male Wistar rats produced dose-and time-dependent enhancement of inhibitory avoidance memory consolidation. However, as assessed with a modified inhibitory avoidance procedure that took place on two sequential days to separate context training from footshock training, corticosterone administration into the dorsal striatum did not enhance memory of either the contextual or aversively motivational aspects of the task.Considerable evidence indicates that adrenocortical hormones facilitate the consolidation of long-term memories of emotionally arousing experiences by acting in a variety of brain regions (for reviews, see Sandi 1998; de Kloet et al. 1999;Roozendaal 2000;McGaugh and Roozendaal 2002). For example, glucocorticoids administered post-training into either the hippocampus or the basolateral amygdala enhance memory of fear-conditioning tasks, including inhibitory avoidance (Cottrell and Nakajima 1977; Roozendaal and McGaugh 1997a,b). However, recent findings indicate that glucocorticoid infusions into these two brain regions enhance memory consolidation of different aspects of information learned during inhibitory avoidance training. To assess the relative involvement of a brain region in memory consolidation of the contextual information independently from that of the footshock, we have used a modified inhibitory avoidance procedure in which context training alone and footshock training alone occur on two sequential days (Malin and McGaugh 2006). Consistent with extensive evidence that the hippocampus is involved in the learning of contextual information (Maren and Fanselow 1997;Sacchetti et al. 1999), a specific glucocorticoid receptor (GR) agonist administered into the hippocampus after context exposure enhanced the subsequent conditioning whereas infusions administered after the footshock training were ineffective (Roozendaal et al. 2008). In contrast, a GR agonist infused into the basolateral amygdala enhanced retention when administered after either the context or footshock training, consistent with extensive evidence that basolateral amygdala activity modulates memory for many different kinds of experiences (Roozendaal 2000;McGaugh 2004). Similar differential effects have been reported previously with infusions of a muscarinic agonist into these two brain regions (Malin and McGaugh 2006).The dorsal striatum (i.e., caudate nucleus) is also involved in consolidation of inhibitory avoidance training. Since the 1960s, it has been recognized that lesions of the dorsal striatum or pharmacological manipulations of striatal function modulate inhibitory avoidance memory (Kirkby and Kimble 1968;Haycock et al. 1973;Prado-Alcalá et al. 1975, 1980, 2003 Pérez-Ruíz and PradoAlcalá 1989;Chavez et ...

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Effects of estradiol and dexamethasone on choline acetyltransferase activity in various rat brain regions

Cited by 45 publications

References 25 publications

Evaluation of Estrogen Treatment in Female Patients with Dementia of the Alzheimer Type.

Evaluation of Estrogen Treatment in Female Patients with Dementia of the Alzheimer Type.

Adrenalectomy decreases nerve growth factor in young adult rat hippocampus.

Glucocorticoid administration into the dorsal stratium facilitates memory consolidation of inhibitory avoidance training but not of the context or footshock components

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