Spine Synapse Formation in the CA1 Hippocampal Subfield of Ovariectomized Female Rats

Previous studies have demonstrated that estradiol-17 � and estradiol-17 � both induce short-latency effects on spatial memory in rats, estradiol-17 � being at least as potent as its 17� isomer. To determine whether the mechanisms underlying these behavioral responses might include effects on hippocampal synaptic plasticity, CA1 pyramidal spine synapse density (PSSD) was measured in ovariectomized…