Flash-visual evoked responses in male mice are faster than in female mice.

Visual evoked potentials (VEPs) and rapid oscillatory potentials (OPs) of male and female DBA/2 mice were studied. Gender confrontations of the OPs spectral content and effects induced by a single low dose of physostigmine (0.05 mg/kg) were also evaluated. VEPs and OPs responses to luminous stimuli in male mice had a consistently lower latency than in females, but no gender differences in OPs spectral content (60–300 Hz) were evidenced. Physostigmine induced a further significant decrease in latency of evoked responses only in male mice and a significant decrease of amplitude in females. Spectral information contained in rapid OPs was not affected. Gender differences did not appear to be dependent barely on hormonal conditions, but on a more complex structural background.