POST CHRONIC CIGARETTE SMOKE EXPOSURE AND ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING, MEMORY AND ASYMPTOMATIC LEVEL OF PERFORMANCE IN WISTAR RATS.

This study is to further assess the effect of cessation of chronic cigarette smoke exposure(CSE) on memory, learning and asymptomatic level of performance(ALOP). The design of the study was a single blind randomized control trial involving exposed and control group of rats. Water-maze assessment of learning, memory and ALOP revealed a progressive decline in the latency-time with each sessions, for all study groups- implying that learning was taking place. The female exposed rats had the most difficulty in learning the task compared to the other study groups. In-addition, ALOP was averagely attained by the 4th and 5th session for the exposed and control groups. Furthermore, memory for these sessions was demonstrated by all study groups, with the female-exposed group depicting the highest level. Hippocampal histology revealed a dichotomy between exposed and control groups. The exposed groups had nuclei condensation-pyknosis and edematous changes. Hence, the observation of both a difficulty in learning and a high level of memorization in the female-exposed group suggest that, this study setting favors the recovery of the apparatuses-especially hippocampus, involved in these function from any deleterious effect of chronic CSE. And that the recovery of the males is faster than those of the females. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]