Hippocampus

Study by Williams et al. (1990)

• Question: Does exposure to androgens or estrogens early in life affect spatial abilities in adulthood?

• Methods:

  • 4 groups: male rats castrated on day 1 (MNC), sham-operated control males (MC), female rats exposed to estrogen from days 1-10 (FNE), and sham-operated control females treated with oil (FC)
  • at 45 days of age, all groups were gonadectomized (MNC group was already castrated); this was done to control for any activational effects of on performance
  • at 70 days of age, all rats were placed on a food deprivation schedule that kept tham at 85% of their free-feeding body weight; rats were trained to run down arms of the maze for food
  • tested the performance of the rats on locating food pellets when only some of the arms were baited--12-arm maze, 8 arms were baited with food and 4 arms were not; this relationship remained constant throughout the experiment

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