Effects of estrogen on basal forebrain cholinergic neurons and spatial learning

Abstract

Estrogen receptors are expressed in several areas of the brain associated with cognition, including the basal forebrain cholinergic nuclei, and numerous reports have described improvements in memory in response to estrogen supplementation. The relationship between estrogen's effects on the basal cholinergic system and improvements in cognitive function, however, are obscure. We therefore undertook a study to determine the effects of estrogen on several parameters of the cholinergic system in ovariectomized rats and measured the concomitant effects on performance in the Barnes maze, a test of spatial memory. Six weeks of estradiol treatment caused an increase in choline acetyltransferase acti..