Sex differences in rapid auditory processing deficits in microgyric rats

Early neocortical injury has been associated with rate-specific auditory processing deficits using rodent models. In the few cases where females were studied, they appeared less vulnerable than males to the behavioral consequences of early neocortical injury. In the current study, male rats with neocortical microgyria were found to exhibit significant impairments in detecting tone sequences at short but not long inter-stimulus intervals (ISI) as compared to sham-operated male littermates. Microgyric females, however, performed similarly to sham-operated female littermates on this task at all durations. Current findings support an association between focal cortical malformations and impaired rapid auditory processing in males, and less vulnerability in females to the behavioral consequences of these malformations on a task eliminating confounds of motivation, experience, and estrus.