The Effect of Substance P on Ovariectomy-Induced Memory Deficits in Rats

The Effect of Substance P on Ovariectomy-induced Memory Deficits in Rats Jamie L. Haga The present experiment was designed to test whether pretreatment with substance P would affect ovariectomy-induced memory deficits in rats for retention in the Morris water maze. Adult female Sprague-Dawley rats were divided to two groups: (1) control (received saline) and (2) experimental group (received substance P). All rats underwent an ovariectomy, as this has been shown to significantly impair spatial reference learning and memory (Monteiro, Matté, Bavaresco, Netto, & Wyse, 2005). Approximately 8 months after surgery, all rats were trained in the Morris water maze in order to evaluate both reference and working memory. Results showed that substance P did not significantly affect performance in any segment of the experiment, when compared with controls. The results of the present experiment do not support the hypothesis that pretreatment with substance P improves spatial and working memory of ovariectomized rats.