The effect of sexual behavior and social interaction in the memory of old and young male rats Several studies have demonstrated neurogenesis in the old brain in animal models and humans, specifically in the hippocampus and olfactory bulb. The hippocampus has a fundamental function in learning and memory. Sexual behavior has been widely reported that enhance neurogenesis and cognitive function in juvenile sub- jects. On the other hand, different conditions of social interaction have been linked to increase and decrease neurogenesis. Age is a determining factor in several brain trophic processes and cogni- tive function. Aging has been associated to decrease neurogenesis and cognitive decline, while youthfulness has the opposite effect. Thus, the aim of the present study is to determine the effect of sexual behavior and social interaction of old and young male rats in the performance of learning and memory tasks. Animals were divided into 3 groups per age condition (old and young): sexual interaction, social interaction, and control group. Sexual interac- tion groups had sexual intercourse once a week (4 tests), the rats in the social interaction groups were housed in groups of 3 rats, and the rats of control groups were housed individually and left undisturbed until the assessment. All groups were tested in three memory tasks: inhibitory passive avoidance test, the novel object recognition test, and water maze test. The results showed better performance of the experimental groups when compared to con- trol groups. Also, there are differences in the performance of the memory tasks between both age conditions.
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