The Effect of a Single Heating Treatment on Laboratory Mice Behavior, Adult Neurogenesis, and the Expression of Heatshock Protein HSP-70

Male hybrid mice (F1 CBA × C57BL/6J) were kept for 1.5 h at 39.5°С. In cognitive tests (extrapolation and puzzle-box elementary logic task solution), mice of the experimental groups (after exposure to an elevated temperature) solved the tasks more quickly and more successfully, while their activity in the “small open field” (in which no stress-inducing stimuli were present) and in the Porsolt test (unescapable swimming) was higher than in control mice. In separate experiments, the temporary impairment in the adult neurogenesis (the decrease of new cell numbers detected immunо-histochemically by the marker Ki67) after elevated temperature exposure was demonstrated in both the subgranular area of dentate fascia and in the subventricular proliferative zone of the forebrain. The heating treatment was accompanied by the increase of HSP-70 expression at the time point 3 h after the treatment, while no differences from control were found after 24 h.