Early postnatal hyperthyroidism improves both working and reference memory in a spatial radial-maze task in adult mice

Physiol Behav. 1991 Jul;50(1):259-61. doi: 10.1016/0031-9384(91)90530-2.

Abstract

Newborn male pups of the inbred mouse strain DBA/2J were injected with a buffered solution of L-thyroxine, known to induce a hyperplasia of the intra- and infrapyramidal mossy fiber terminal fields (iip-MF). Because previous studies have shown that the size of the iip-MF correlates positively with both reference memory and working memory in a spatial radial maze task, we expected improved performance on such a task in the treated animals. Such an improvement was in fact found for both reference and working memory. We conclude that the iip-MF are functionally involved in the regulation of spatial learning and memory in mice.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Animals, Newborn / physiology*
  • Brain Mapping
  • Discrimination Learning / physiology*
  • Hippocampus / physiology
  • Male
  • Mental Recall / physiology*
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred DBA
  • Orientation / physiology*
  • Retention, Psychology / physiology*
  • Thyroid Hormones / physiology*
  • Thyroxine / physiology

Substances

  • Thyroid Hormones
  • Thyroxine