Age-related learning and memory impairments in adult-onset hypothyroidism in Kunming mice

The memory impairment induced by adult-onset hypothyroidism is a common symptom. However, the exact onset time that will influence on memory function is still an issue of debate. The purpose of this study is to determine the onset effect of hypothyroidism on the memory during adulthood. Three age groups of Kunming (KM) mice were used, including 2, 8, and 15-month-old mice. Adult-onset hypothyroidism was made by adding PTU to drinking water and hypothyroid states were documented by the measurement of serum thyroid hormones level. A battery of tasks, i.e. novel-object recognition, olfactory discrimination, Morris water maze, was used to test mice's memory. The results showed that adult-onset hypothyroidism induced the impairment of odor and spatial memory consolidation whereas it did not affect visual memory encoding or consolidated spatial memory retention. Age at onset of hypothyroidism was an important factor for the memory impairment induced by hypothyroidism. The 2-month-old hypothyroid mice had significantly impaired abilities in both the olfactory discrimination and the spatial cognitive tasks relative to the 2-month-old controls. The 8-month-old hypothyroid mice had only impaired ability in the spatial cognitive task relative to the same age controls. The 15-month-old hypothyroid mice retained these cognitive abilities relative to the same age controls. These results suggested that adult-onset hypothyroidism could induce an age- and task-dependent impairment of memory in female KM mice.