CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Short-term memory (STM) is the ability to store a small amount of information for a brief period of time. Working memory (WM) is a STM used for the planning and execution of cognitive functions. Cdk5 is a serine/threonine kinase activated by p35 or p39 subunits. It regulates neuronal survival, dopaminergic neurotransmission and synaptic plasticity among others. Cdk5 involvement was also observed in fear memory procecces in a sex-dependent manner. We aimed to evaluate the participation of Cdk5/p35 in STM, WM, and anxiety-like behavior accounting sex differences. We used Transgenic mice deficient in the activator of Cdk5, p35 (p35KO) and wild type (WT) control of 21-25 postnatal days . Elevated Y-maze, novel object recognition and elevated plus-maze were used to evaluate WM, STM and anxiety-like behavior, respectively. Data was analyzed using t-test analysis. Male p35KO mice exhibited impaired WM relative to WT male mice, whereas female p35KO mice did not show impaired WM. On the other hand, no differences in STM were observed between p35KO mice and their control strain in both males and females. Finally, p35KO male mice exhibited greater impulsivity compared to WT males, this difference was not observed in females. The deficit in the activation of Cdk5 due to the lack of its activator, p35, induces alterations in WM in male mice than in females, however it does not affect STM. Also, this condition exhibits a more impulsivity in males which is not observed in females mice.