Abstract
Pharmacological agents known to stimulate monoamine systems improve memory, and destruction of the dopaminergic systems or dopamine depletion lead to impairments in various learning-related tasks. These reported effects of the central dopaminergic system imply the involvement of D 2 receptors. The aim of the present study was to investigate changes in [ 3H]spiroperidol binding in seven areas of rat brain following informal and active avoidance learning. Littermate male and female rats were reared until 3 months of age in standard colony conditions and treated as active controls or in enriched environmental conditions and exposed to pole-jump active avoidance trials. Female rats acquired avoidance behavior more rapidly than males. Among the brain regions, only the hippocampus showed significant variations in D 2 receptor binding between the groups; sex differences and learning-sex interaction were observed in the corpus striatum. There was an inverse correlation between learning performance and hippocampal D 2 receptor binding. Our results show that learning affects hippocampal D 2 receptors in a sexually dimorphic pattern.
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