Physiology & behavior
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Physiology & behavior · Aug 2016
Sex-specific effects of daily exposure to sucrose on spatial memory performance in male and female rats, and implications for estrous cycle stage.
Excessive consumption of sugar sweetened drinks is proposed to produce functional changes in the hippocampus, leading to perturbations in learning and memory. In this study we examined the impact of 2h daily access to 10% sucrose (or no sucrose in controls) on recognition memory tasks in young male and female rats. In Experiment 1 we tested rats on memory tasks reliant on the hippocampus (place recognition), perirhinal cortex (object recognition), and a combination of hippocampus, prefrontal cortex and perirhinal cortex (object-in-place memory). ⋯ In Experiment 2 we tested place recognition and object-in-place memory in 10% sucrose exposed or non-exposed control female rats both during the metestrus (low estrogen) and proestrus (high estrogen) phases of their cycle on place recognition and object-in-place memory. Both sucrose exposed and control female rats were able to perform place object-in-place recognition correctly during metestrus and proestrus, however sucrose exposed rats were only able to perform place recognition correctly during proestrus. This indicates that when hippocampal function is compromised, endogenous estrogens may boost memory performance in females, and that males may be at more risk of high sugar diet induced cognitive deficits.
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Physiology & behavior · Aug 2016
Review Historical Article2015 Distinguished career award: Reflections on a career in science.
I was very pleased to receive the 2015 Distinguished Career Award from SSIB. This brief manuscript contains reminisces that might stir up pleasant memories in the older members of SSIB and also some general thoughts that I hope will be of value to the younger investigators who are closer to the beginning of their scientific careers. ⋯ They include Neal Miller, my doctoral mentor at Yale; Joe Holmes and Alan Epstein, my postdoctoral mentors; George Wolf and Reed Hainsworth, graduate student colleagues; John Brobeck, Paul Rozin, and Phil Teitelbaum, Michael Zigmond, Joe Verbalis, Jim Smith, and Alan Sved, faculty colleagues; Derek Denton, Paul McHugh, and James Fitzsimons, scientific role models; John Bruno, Steve Fluharty, and Linda Rinaman, post-doctoral trainees at Pitt; and Lori Flanagan, Kath Curtis, Michael Bushey, Mike Bykowski, Reza Manesh, Carrie Smith, Jennifer Vaughan, and Myriam Stricker, student trainees at Pitt. I thank them all and also my colleagues in SSIB not only for the honor of this award but for providing an abundant supply of insights and discoveries that have stimulated me throughout my adult life, in addition to being an attentive community in supporting my own work.