Sex Differences in Behavioral Outcomes Following Temperature Modulation During Induced Neonatal Hypoxic Ischemic Injury in Rats

Brain Sciences

Amanda L. Smith²  Haley Garbus²  Ted S. Rosenkrantz¹  Roslyn Holly Fitch² 

[1] Department of Pediatrics, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, 263 Farmington Avenue, Farmington, CT 06030, USA; E-Mail:;Department of Psychology, University of Connecticut, 406 Babbidge Road, Unit 1020, Storrs, CT 06269, USA; E-Mails:

关键词: Temperature modulation;    hypoxia ischemia;    rodent model;    rapid auditory processing;    motor;    learning/memory;    preterm;    neuroprotection;    neurobehavioral;    hypothermia;   

DOI  :  10.3390/brainsci5020220

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Neonatal hypoxia ischemia (HI; reduced oxygen and/or blood flow to the brain) can cause various degrees of tissue damage, as well as subsequent cognitive/behavioral deficits such as motor, learning/memory, and auditory impairments. These outcomes frequently result from cardiovascular and/or respiratory events observed in premature infants. Data suggests that there is a sex difference in HI outcome, with males being more adversely affected relative to comparably injured females. Brain/body temperature may play a role in modulating the severity of an HI insult, with hypothermia during an insult yielding more favorable anatomical and behavioral outcomes. The current study utilized a postnatal day (P) 7 rodent model of HI injury to assess the effect of temperature modulation during injury in each sex. We hypothesized that female P7 rats would benefit more from lowered body temperatures as compared to male P7 rats. We assessed all subjects on rota-rod, auditory discrimination, and spatial/non-spatial maze tasks. Our results revealed a significant benefit of temperature reduction in HI females as measured by most of the employed behavioral tasks. However, HI males benefitted from temperature reduction as measured on auditory and non-spatial tasks. Our data suggest that temperature reduction protects both sexes from the deleterious effects of HI injury, but task and sex specific patterns of relative efficacy are seen.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.