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Differential effect of corticosterone on spatial learning abilities in apolipoprotein E knockout and C57BL/6J mice
J Grootendorst1, M M Kempes, P J Lucassen
1Division of Medical Pharmacology, Leiden/Amsterdam Center for Drug Research, Leiden University Medical Center, University of Leiden, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands. jeannette.grootendorst@psycho-ulp.u-strasbg.fr
Abstract:
Previously, we found that repeated exposure to predator stress corrected the deficit in spatial learning of apolipoprotein E-knockout (apoE0/0) mice, but impaired cognitive performance of wild-type mice. Here we show that elevated corticosterone concentrations, accomplished by subcutaneously implanted pellets, results in similar genotype-related effects on water maze learning: while apoE0/0 mice improved their spatial learning abilities, wild-type mice (C57/Bl6J) became impaired. These results suggest that corticosterone mediates the lasting effects of environmental challenges on apoE-genotype related cognitive performance.