The effect of iron deficiency on cognitive performance in the rat

The effects of iron deficiency anemia on cognitive performance of the rat were examined in a test of transfer learning. Young adult female rats maintained on either an iron-adequate (37 ppm) or low-iron (7 ppm) diet were behaviorally tested in a modified Skinner box. Tests involved visual, auditory, association, and discrimination learning. Circulating hemoglobin levels of anemic animals approximated 58.5 and 64.3% of well-nourished controls during the training and final test phase. Hematocrit levels of anemic animals followed a similar reduction, approximating only 67.0 and 72.1% of iron-adequate controls. No significant differences were observed in visual discrimination performance of the anemic animals when compared to their well-nourished counterparts. Deficits in the ability to transfer a learning association between visual and auditory stimuli were observed, however, in the anemic animals during the final test phase. The results of the present study are indicative that some aspect of association learning is adversely affected by concurrent iron-deficiency anemia.