Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) produces attention and memory deficits in humans. There was no consensus about factors that determine these cognitive impairments, since these deficits are not related to the different etiopathogenia of HE. Three types of HE have been proposed: A (with acute hepatic insufficiency), B (with porto systemic shunts) and C (with cirrhosis and portal hypertension or Porto systemic collateral circulation). Our aim is to study working memory alterations in B and C HE experimental models. Our findings suggest that type C HE presents a severe deficit in working memory. Portal hypertension, a feature of TAA and TPVL rats, could be involved in working memory deficits, suggesting a functional impairment of brain limbic system which is implicated in this type of learning.
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