Accessing the Effect of Cigarette Smoke Exposure on Spatial Memory in Wistar Rats

This study aims at correlating the relationship that could exist between chronic cigarette smoke exposures on the Spatial Memory of Wistar rats in the context of repetitive Morris water maze training supposedly sufficient to attain consolidation of memory. Twenty four (24) male Wistar rats were used for the experiment. The rats were randomly placed into 3 groups: Groups A and B was the treatment group while group C served as the control group. The groups were subjected to 10 episodes of Morris water maze training for 2 weeks with a probe trail test at the end. Group A rats were exposed to cigarette smoke maintained at concentration of carbon monoxide of 100-200 ppm for 10 min while Group B rats were exposed to 300-400 ppm for 10 min. All exposures were for 3 days in a week for 13 weeks. Another probe trail test is carried out at the end of the 13 week cigarette smoke exposure period. Probe trail time recording before and after rats exposure depicts the time the Rats spends in the quadrant used to house the escape platform which is removed within 60 sec. Nicotine test strip was used to test the urine samples of the Wistar rats after the exposure sessions to verify that cigarette smoke was actually inhaled. The result showed that the Wistar rat’s performance in the Probe trail test of Morris water maze showed no statistically significant difference within each group. These finding suggest that whatever effect cigarette smoke may have on the information stored within the 10 training episodes spread over 2 weeks didn’t alter the findings of similar result following 13 weeks of cigarette smoke exposure with intermittent Morris water maze training.