Spatial memory performance in androgen insensitive male rats

• Published in: Physiology & behavior 2005-06, Vol.85 (2), p.135-141
• Main Authors: Jones, Bryan A., Watson, Neil V.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Analysis of Variance; Androgen; Androgen insensitivity; Androgen-Insensitivity Syndrome - genetics; Androgen-Insensitivity Syndrome - pathology; Androgen-Insensitivity Syndrome - physiopathology; Animals; Aromatization hypothesis; Behavior, Animal; Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological and medical sciences; Dentate gyrus; Dentate Gyrus - pathology; Estrogen; Female; Feminization - genetics; Feminization - physiopathology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Hippocampus; Hormones and behavior; Male; Maze Learning - physiology; Memory - physiology; Morris water maze; Mutation - physiology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Rats; Rats, Mutant Strains; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Receptors, Androgen - genetics; Receptors, Androgen - physiology; Sex Characteristics; Sex differences; Spatial Behavior - physiology; Spatial memory; Testicular feminization mutation; Volume estimation
• ISSN: 0031-9384; 1873-507X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2005.03.023

Masculinization of the developing rodent brain critically depends on the process of aromatization of circulating testosterone (T) to its estrogenic metabolite 17β-estradiol, which subsequently interacts with estrogen receptors to permanently masculinize the brain. However, it remains unclear what role other androgenic mechanisms may play in the process of masculinization. A novel way of examining this is through the study of male rats that express the tfm mutation of the androgen receptor (AR) gene; such males are fully androgen insensitive and manifest a female phenotype due to a failure of AR-mediated masculinization of peripheral structures. Because tfm-affected males develop secretory testes and have near-normal T titers during development, aromatization would be expected to proceed normally, and brain mechanisms may be developmentally masculinized despite the feminized periphery. We compared tfm-affected males (X tfmY) with normal males and females in the Morris Water Maze, a task in which males typically perform better than females. Performance of tfm-affected males was intermediate between that of normal males and females. While an overall male superiority was found in the task, the X tfmY group reached male-typical escape latencies faster than females. Furthermore, in the X tfmY group, the granule cell layer of the dentate gyrus was significantly larger than in females. These results support the suggestion that that AR mediated mechanisms contribute to the masculinization of spatial behaviours and hippocampal morphology, and this may be independent of estrogenic processes.