Effects of enhanced zinc and copper in drinking water on spatial memory and fear conditioning Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Ingestion of enhanced zinc can cause memory impairments and copper deficiencies. This study examined the effect of zinc supplementation, with and without copper, on two types of memory. Rats raised pre- and post-natally on 10 mg/kg ZnCO 3 or ZnSO 4 in the drinking water were tested in a fear-conditioning experiment at 11 months of age. Both zinc groups showed a maladaptive retention of fearful memories compared to controls raised on tap water. Rats raised on 10 mg/kg ZnCO 3, 10 mg/kg ZnCO 3 + 0.25 mg/kg CuCl 2, or tap water, were tested for spatial memory ability at 3 months of age. Significant improvements in performance were found in the ZnCO 3 + CuCl 2 group compared to the ZnCO 3 group, suggesting that some of the cognitive deficits associated with zinc supplementation may be remediated by addition of copper. 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

published proceedings

  • JOURNAL OF GEOCHEMICAL EXPLORATION

altmetric score

  • 1

author list (cited authors)

  • Chrosniak, L. D., Smith, L. N., McDonald, C. G., Jones, B. F., & Flinn, J. M.

citation count

  • 11

complete list of authors

  • Chrosniak, LD||Smith, LN||McDonald, CG||Jones, BF||Flinn, JM

publication date

  • January 2006