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Functional deficits in menopause-associated encephalopathy: a behavioural rodent study.

Ming-Sum Yu1, Rudi D'Hooge1 and Ann Van Der Jeugd1*
  • 1 KU Leuven, Belgium

In this study, 4-months old ovariectomised (OVX) mice (n = 15) and sham control mice of the same age (n = 15) were used. Following surgery and recovery, all mice were subjected to behavioural tests at 6 months to examine the effects of early menopause on behaviour. The tests examined general exploratory activity, anxiety, depression-like behaviours, object recognition memory, social exploration and sociability, and several forms of learning and memory. Results of the open field test showed that, compared to shams, OVX mice did not spend less time in the centre of the arena (Figure 1. A), but were significantly more reluctant to enter the centre (Figure 1. B). In concordance, in the elevated plus maze test, OVX mice spent significantly less time in the open arms of the elevated plus-maze (Figure 1.C) compared to sham mice. When tested for behavioural despair in the forced swim test, OVX mice were more immobile during the first half of the test, reflecting depression-like behaviors in these mice (Figure 1.D). Tested for cognitive functioning, OVX mice showed a significant decrease in novel-object recognition (Figure 2.A). Interestingly, ovariectomy also tended to affect social memory (Figure 2B.), but this needs further investigation. When tested for spatial learning and memory, OVX miced learned the hidden platform position equally well as shams (Figure 2.C). However, on the second probe trial, when the platform was removed, OVX mice spent less time in the target quadrant (Figure 2.D). This lacking preference for the former target in OVX mice was also reflected in the heat maps (Figure 2.E). Finally, when tested for fear memory in the passive avoidance test, OVX mice showed no difference in memory retention for the fearful event 24hrs later when compared to shams (Figure 2.F). Our findings suggest that menopause is associated with anxiety-like behaviour and cognitive problems. They indicate that our mouse model has menopause-associated encephalopathy-like features. We plan to link these first results to neuroplasticity and neurostructural measurements properties.

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Acknowledgements

KU Leuven internal fund to RD, FWO postdoctoral fellowship to AVdJ

References

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Keywords: Dementia, Menopause, encephalopathy, Learning and Memory (Neurosciences), Emotional behaviors

Conference: 13th National Congress of the Belgian Society for Neuroscience , Brussels, Belgium, 24 May - 24 May, 2019.

Presentation Type: Poster presentation

Topic: Behavioral/Systems Neuroscience

Citation: Yu M, D'Hooge R and Van Der Jeugd A (2019). Functional deficits in menopause-associated encephalopathy: a behavioural rodent study.. Front. Neurosci. Conference Abstract: 13th National Congress of the Belgian Society for Neuroscience . doi: 10.3389/conf.fnins.2019.96.00043

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Received: 26 Apr 2019; Published Online: 27 Sep 2019.

* Correspondence: Dr. Ann Van Der Jeugd, KU Leuven, Leuven, 3000, Belgium, ann.vanderjeugd@psy.kuleuven.be