Background & Aims: Previous research has shown that adult male rats’ castration reduces memory and learning. On the other hand, zinc chloride has a positive impact on memory and learning in some studies. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate effects of zinc chloride on passive avoidance memory of male rats, in gonadectomized peri-pubertaly.
Materials & Methods: In this experiment, fifty male rats were gonadectomized at postnatal day 21-22 and at puberty, they were divided into six groups, control, sham (saline), gonadectomized (saline), and the gonadectomized groups receiving Zinc chloride 5, 10 and 20 mg/kg
. Then on postnatal day 77, passive avoidance memory was examined by the shuttle box. Different doses of zinc chloride (5, 10 and 20 mg/kg; IP) were administered 30 min before training and the test was taken 24 hours later.
Results: Gonadectomy increased the stopping time in the dark room compared to the sham group, but this increase did not reach to a significant criterion. Groups receiving zinc chloride 5 and 20 mg / kg showed a significant decrease in stopping time in the dark room compared to the gonadectomized group receiving saline (p<0.05).
Conclusion: The findings of this study indicate that zinc chloride in pre-pubertal gonadectomized can improve and reduce the memory destruction caused by gonadectomy
.