Digitized Honors Theses (2002-2017)

Date of Award

5-2014

Document Type

Undergraduate Thesis

Degree Name

BS

Department

Biomedical Sciences

Faculty Mentor

Mike Lin

Abstract

Estrogen is believed to play an important role in several aspects of human physiology, including synaptic plasticity of the hippocampus, where learning and memory processes take place. In hippocampal CAl neurons of the hippocampus, small conductance calcium-activated potassium channels (SK channels) affect neuronal excitability through induction of hyperpolarization. It is known that blocking SK channels leads to induction of synaptic plasticity. The present study examines the effects of estrogen on SK3 channel protein expression in the brains of mice and also on excitability of neurons in the CA3-CAI Schaffer collateral pathway of the hippocampus. The results from the study show a lower SK3 protein expression in samples taken from whole brains of female mice four weeks after their ovaries were surgically removed compared to SK3 expression in brain samples from sham-operated (control, wild type) female mice. Results also showed that ovariectomized female mice brains had greater induction of synaptic potentiation in the hippocampus compared to that in the control mice. There were no studies on the effects of estrogen specifically on hippocampal SK3 channel expression, however, these results suggest that estrogen plays a role in SK3 expression in the brain and that it may influence induction of synaptic plasticity.

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