Sex differences in Guinea Pigs' Performance in a Spatial Navigation Task

Abstract

Abstract Spatial navigation has been extensively investigated for detecting sex differences in mammals, and the domesticated guinea pig (Cavia aperea porcellus) serves as a promising species for such studies, due to distinct parental investment between the sexes. In our exploration of sex-related effects on spatial navigation, we focused on the learning performance and spatial strategy (allocentric or egocentric) employed by guinea pigs in a plus maze paradigm. Results show that 50% of the animals completed the spatial navigation test. Regarding sex differences, 24.2% of females completed the test, while the completion rate for males was significantly higher at 64%. Males achieved the learning criterion with a significantly lower number of trials compared to females, indicating superior spatial abilities in the plus maze paradigm. Like their wild counterparts, male domestic guinea pigs exhibited better spatial skills than females. However, we observed no sex difference in the preference of strategy or the latency of task resolution.