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Ferreira VHB, Lansade L, Calandreau L, Cunha F, Jensen P. Are domesticated animals dumber than their wild relatives? A comprehensive review on the domestication effects on animal cognitive performance. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2023; 154:105407. [PMID: 37769929 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105407] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2023] [Revised: 09/21/2023] [Accepted: 09/22/2023] [Indexed: 10/03/2023]
Abstract
Animal domestication leads to diverse behavioral, physiological, and neurocognitive changes in domesticated species compared to their wild relatives. However, the widely held belief that domesticated species are inherently less "intelligent" (i.e., have lower cognitive performance) than their wild counterparts requires further investigation. To investigate potential cognitive disparities, we undertook a thorough review of 88 studies comparing the cognitive performance of domesticated and wild animals. Approximately 30% of these studies showed superior cognitive abilities in wild animals, while another 30% highlighted superior cognitive abilities in domesticated animals. The remaining 40% of studies found similar cognitive performance between the two groups. Therefore, the question regarding the presumed intelligence of wild animals and the diminished cognitive ability of domesticated animals remains unresolved. We discuss important factors/limitations for interpreting past and future research, including environmental influences, diverse objectives of domestication (such as breed development), developmental windows, and methodological issues impacting cognitive comparisons. Rather than perceiving these limitations as constraints, future researchers should embrace them as opportunities to expand our understanding of the complex relationship between domestication and animal cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vitor Hugo Bessa Ferreira
- IFM Biology, AVIAN Behavioural Genomics and Physiology group, Linköping University, 581 83 Linköping, Sweden; INRAE, CNRS, IFCE, Université de Tours, Centre Val de Loire UMR Physiologie de la Reproduction et des Comportements, 37380 Nouzilly, France.
| | - Léa Lansade
- INRAE, CNRS, IFCE, Université de Tours, Centre Val de Loire UMR Physiologie de la Reproduction et des Comportements, 37380 Nouzilly, France
| | - Ludovic Calandreau
- INRAE, CNRS, IFCE, Université de Tours, Centre Val de Loire UMR Physiologie de la Reproduction et des Comportements, 37380 Nouzilly, France
| | - Felipe Cunha
- IFM Biology, AVIAN Behavioural Genomics and Physiology group, Linköping University, 581 83 Linköping, Sweden
| | - Per Jensen
- IFM Biology, AVIAN Behavioural Genomics and Physiology group, Linköping University, 581 83 Linköping, Sweden.
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Gohar T, Ciacciarelli EJ, Dunn SD, West EA. Transient strain differences in an operant delayed non-match to position task. Behav Processes 2023; 211:104932. [PMID: 37604215 PMCID: PMC10493892 DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2023.104932] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2023] [Revised: 08/11/2023] [Accepted: 08/17/2023] [Indexed: 08/23/2023]
Abstract
Working memory refers to the temporary retention of a small amount of information used in the execution of a cognitive task. Working memory impairments are one of the common hallmarks of many neuropsychiatric and neurological disorders including schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease. Here, we investigated Fischer 344 and Long-Evans rats for strain and sex differences in working memory using the operant-based DNMTP task. Rats were required to press one of two levers presented during a sample phase and followed by a 2-32 second delay, the rats were then required to press the opposite, nonmatch, lever during the choice phase. We found a transient strain difference with Fischer 344 rats performing better than Long-Evans early in training. The Fischer 344 strain showed stable performance across sessions while the performance of Long-Evans increased in the later sessions. Since different background rat strains are used for transgenic rat models, it is critical to be able to compare the behavioral performance across different strains. These findings have implications in behavioral neuroscience research as understanding the typical behavioral endpoints in different background strains will aid our understanding of how different models affect behavioral performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Taqdees Gohar
- MARC Program, Rutgers University-Camden, Camden, NJ 08102, USA; Cell Biology and Neuroscience, USA
| | | | | | - Elizabeth A West
- Cell Biology and Neuroscience, USA; Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine, Stratford, NJ 08084, USA.
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Rivi V, Batabyal A, Benatti C, Blom JM, Tascedda F, Lukowiak K. Novel taste, sickness, and memory: Lipopolysaccharide to induce a Garcia-like effect in inbred and wild strains of Lymnaea stagnalis. Physiol Behav 2023; 263:114137. [PMID: 36841323 DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2023.114137] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2022] [Revised: 02/09/2023] [Accepted: 02/20/2023] [Indexed: 02/27/2023]
Abstract
Food is not only necessary for our survival but also elicits pleasure. However, when a novel food is followed sometime later by nausea or sickness animals form a long-lasting association to avoid that food. This phenomenon is called the 'Garcia effect'. We hypothesized that lipopolysaccharide (LPS) could be used as the sickness-inducing stimulus to produce a Garcia-like effect in inbred and wild populations of Lymnaea stagnalis. We first demonstrated that the injection of 25 μg (6.25 µg/mL) of Escherichia coli-derived LPS serotype O127:B8 did not by itself alter snails' feeding behavior. Then we showed that the presentation of a novel appetitive stimulus (i.e., carrot slurry) and LPS resulted in a taste-specific and long-lasting feeding suppression (i.e., the Garcia-like effect). We also found strain-specific variations in the duration of the long-term memory (LTM). That is, while the LTM for the Garcia-like effect in W-strain snails persisted for 24h, LTM persisted for 48h in freshly collected Margo snails and their F1 offspring. Finally, we demonstrated that the exposure to a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) before the LPS injection prevented both the LPS-induced sickness state and the Garcia-like effect from occurring. The results of this study may pave the way for new research that aims at (1) uncovering the conserved molecular mechanisms underlying the Garcia-like effect, (2) understanding how cognitive traits vary within and between species, and (3) creating a holistic picture of the complex dialogue between the immune and central nervous systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Veronica Rivi
- Dept. of Life Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy.
| | - Anuradha Batabyal
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, T2N 4N1, Canada; Department of Physical and Natural Sciences, FLAME University, India
| | - Cristina Benatti
- Dept. of Life Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy; Centre of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy
| | - Johanna Mc Blom
- Centre of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy; Dept. of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy
| | - Fabio Tascedda
- Dept. of Life Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy; Centre of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy; CIB, Consorzio Interuniversitario Biotecnologie, Trieste, Italy
| | - Ken Lukowiak
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, T2N 4N1, Canada
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Performance of the intracerebroventricularly injected streptozotocin Alzheimer's disease model in a translationally relevant, aged and experienced rat population. Sci Rep 2022; 12:20247. [PMID: 36424423 PMCID: PMC9691696 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-24292-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2022] [Accepted: 11/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
The intracerebroventricularly (icv) injected streptozotocin (STZ) induced brain state is a widely used model of sporadic Alzheimer-disease (AD). However, data have been generated in young, naive albino rats. We postulate that the translationally most relevant animal population of an AD model should be that of aged rats with substantial learning history. The objective of the study was thus to probe the model in old rats with knowledge in various cognitive domains. Long-Evans rats of 23 and 10 months age with acquired knowledge in five-choice serial reaction time task (5-CSRTT), a cooperation task, Morris water-maze (MWM) and "pot-jumping" exercise were treated with 3 × 1.5 mg/kg icv. STZ and their performance were followed for 3 months in the above and additional behavioral assays. Both STZ-treated age groups showed significant impairment in the MWM (spatial learning) and novel object recognition test (recognition memory) but not in passive avoidance and fear conditioning paradigms (fear memory). In young STZ treated rats, significant differences were also found in the 5CSRTT (attention) and pot jumping test (procedural learning) while in old rats a significant increase in hippocampal phospho-tau/tau protein ratio was observed. No significant difference was found in the cooperation (social cognition) and pairwise discrimination (visual memory) assays and hippocampal β-amyloid levels. STZ treated old animals showed impulsivity-like behavior in several tests. Our results partly coincide with partly deviate from those published on young, albino, unexperienced rats. Beside the age, strain and experience level of the animals differences can also be attributed to the increased dose of STZ, and the applied food restriction regime. The observed cognitive and non-cognitive activity pattern of icv. STZ in aged experienced rats call for more extensive studies with the STZ model to further strengthen and specify its translational validity.
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Pigmented Long-Evans rats demonstrate better visual ability than albino Wistar rats in slow angles-descent forepaw grasping test. Neuroreport 2022; 33:543-547. [PMID: 35882010 DOI: 10.1097/wnr.0000000000001815] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
Albino people are known to have vision deficit. Albino animals are shown to have abnormal connectivity and malformation of the visual system. However, not many studies have revealed visual impairment of albino animals in the level of perception. To link anatomical abnormality and perceptual visual impairment of albinism, we compared the perceptual vision between the pigmented Long-Evans and the albino Wistar rats. We used the slow angled-descent forepaw grasping (SLAG) test. We hanged the rats in the air by their tails and slowly moved them around a safety bar so that they could see it. When the rats recognized the bar and try to grab it to escape, we counted the trial as 'positive', and we measured positive rates. We also measured the distance between the bar and their whiskers during the rats' initial grasping action, and evaluated type of action at the first contact to the bar. The positive-action rate in the Long-Evans rat group showed significantly higher than the Wistar rat group (0.85 ± 0.047, n = 10, vs. 0.29 ± 0.043, n = 10; P < 0.0001). Besides, when the action was positive, the distance between the bar and their whiskers was longer in the Long-Evans rat group than that in the Wistar rat group (117 ± 5.3 mm vs. 58.8 ± 4.6 mm; P < 0.0001). The Long-Evans rats grasped the bar more precisely than the Wistar rats. The pigmented Long-Evans rats have much better visual perception than the albino Wistar rats.
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Ferreira VHB, Guesdon V, Calandreau L, Jensen P. White Leghorn and Red Junglefowl female chicks use distal and local cues similarly, but differ in persistency behaviors, during a spatial orientation task. Behav Processes 2022; 200:104669. [DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2022.104669] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2022] [Revised: 05/09/2022] [Accepted: 05/30/2022] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
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Gavriilidi I, De Meester G, Van Damme R, Baeckens S. How to behave when marooned: the behavioural component of the island syndrome remains underexplored. Biol Lett 2022; 18:20220030. [PMID: 35440235 PMCID: PMC9039784 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2022.0030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Animals on islands typically depart from their mainland relatives in assorted aspects of their biology. Because they seem to occur in concert, and to some extent evolve convergently in disparate taxa, these changes are referred to as the ‘island syndrome’. While morphological, physiological and life-history components of the island syndrome have received considerable attention, much less is known about how insularity affects behaviour. In this paper, we argue why changes in personality traits and cognitive abilities can be expected to form part of the island syndrome. We provide an overview of studies that have compared personality traits and cognitive abilities between island and mainland populations, or among islands. Overall, the pickings are remarkably slim. There is evidence that animals on islands tend to be bolder than on the mainland, but effects on other personality traits go either way. The evidence for effects of insularity on cognitive abilities or style is highly circumstantial and very mixed. Finally, we consider the ecological drivers that may induce such changes, and the mechanisms through which they might occur. We conclude that our knowledge of the behavioural and cognitive responses to island environments remains limited, and we encourage behavioural biologists to make more use of these ‘natural laboratories for evolution’.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ioanna Gavriilidi
- Functional Morphology Lab, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, Belgium.,Section of Zoology and Marine Biology, Department of Biology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
| | - Gilles De Meester
- Functional Morphology Lab, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, Belgium
| | - Raoul Van Damme
- Functional Morphology Lab, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, Belgium
| | - Simon Baeckens
- Functional Morphology Lab, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, Belgium.,Evolution and Optics of Nanostructures Lab, Department of Biology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
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Male long-Evans rats: An outbred model of marked hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal hyperactivity. Neurobiol Stress 2021; 15:100355. [PMID: 34307794 PMCID: PMC8283147 DOI: 10.1016/j.ynstr.2021.100355] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2020] [Revised: 06/08/2021] [Accepted: 06/13/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Rat and mouse strains differ in behavioral and physiological characteristics, and such differences can contribute to explain discrepant results between laboratories and better select the most appropriate strain for a particular purpose. Differences in the activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis are particularly important given the pivotal role of this system in determining consequences of exposure to stressors. In this regard, Long-Evans (LE) rats are widely used in stress research, but there is no specific study aiming at thoroughly characterizing HPA activity in LE versus other extensively used strains. In a first experiment, LE showed higher resting ACTH and corticosterone levels only at certain points of the circadian rhythm, but much greater ACTH responsiveness to stressors (novel environment and forced swim) than Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Accordingly, enhanced corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) expression in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus and reduced expression of glucocorticoid receptors were observed in the hippocampal formation. Additionally, they are hyperactive in novel environments, and prone to adopt passive-like behavior when compared to SD rats. Supporting that altered HPA function has a marked physiological impact, we observed in another set of animals much lower thymus weight in LE than SD rats. Finally, to demonstrate that LE rats are likely to have higher HPA responsiveness to stressors than most strains, we studied resting and stress levels of HPA hormones in LE versus Wistar and Fischer rats, the latter considered an example of high HPA responsiveness. Again, LE showed higher resting and stress levels of ACTH than both Wistar and Fischer rats. As ACTH responsiveness to stressors in LE rats is stronger than that previously reported when comparing other rat strains and they are commercially available, they could be an appropriate model for studying the behavioral and physiological implications of a hyper-active HPA axis under normal and pathological conditions. Strain differences in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) function were studied. Long-Evans (LE) rats show greater HPA response to stressors than other strains. CRH expression in critical brain areas is greater in LE than Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Glucocorticoid receptor expression was lower in the hippocampal formation of LE rats. LE rats are more active in novel environments but showed more passive coping.
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Lee SM, Jin SW, Park SB, Park EH, Lee CH, Lee HW, Lim HY, Yoo SW, Ahn JR, Shin J, Lee SA, Lee I. Goal-directed interaction of stimulus and task demand in the parahippocampal region. Hippocampus 2021; 31:717-736. [PMID: 33394547 PMCID: PMC8359334 DOI: 10.1002/hipo.23295] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2020] [Revised: 12/05/2020] [Accepted: 12/12/2020] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
The hippocampus and parahippocampal region are essential for representing episodic memories involving various spatial locations and objects, and for using those memories for future adaptive behavior. The “dual‐stream model” was initially formulated based on anatomical characteristics of the medial temporal lobe, dividing the parahippocampal region into two streams that separately process and relay spatial and nonspatial information to the hippocampus. Despite its significance, the dual‐stream model in its original form cannot explain recent experimental results, and many researchers have recognized the need for a modification of the model. Here, we argue that dividing the parahippocampal region into spatial and nonspatial streams a priori may be too simplistic, particularly in light of ambiguous situations in which a sensory cue alone (e.g., visual scene) may not allow such a definitive categorization. Upon reviewing evidence, including our own, that reveals the importance of goal‐directed behavioral responses in determining the relative involvement of the parahippocampal processing streams, we propose the Goal‐directed Interaction of Stimulus and Task‐demand (GIST) model. In the GIST model, input stimuli such as visual scenes and objects are first processed by both the postrhinal and perirhinal cortices—the postrhinal cortex more heavily involved with visual scenes and perirhinal cortex with objects—with relatively little dependence on behavioral task demand. However, once perceptual ambiguities are resolved and the scenes and objects are identified and recognized, the information is then processed through the medial or lateral entorhinal cortex, depending on whether it is used to fulfill navigational or non‐navigational goals, respectively. As complex sensory stimuli are utilized for both navigational and non‐navigational purposes in an intermixed fashion in naturalistic settings, the hippocampus may be required to then put together these experiences into a coherent map to allow flexible cognitive operations for adaptive behavior to occur.
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Affiliation(s)
- Su-Min Lee
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Seung-Woo Jin
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Seong-Beom Park
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Eun-Hye Park
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Choong-Hee Lee
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Hyun-Woo Lee
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Heung-Yeol Lim
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Seung-Woo Yoo
- Department of Biomedical Science, Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, Brain Institute, Florida Atlantic University, Jupiter, Florida, USA
| | - Jae Rong Ahn
- Department of Biology, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Jhoseph Shin
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Sang Ah Lee
- Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, South Korea
| | - Inah Lee
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea
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Jaeger ECB, Miller LE, Goins EC, Super CE, Chyr CU, Lower JW, Honican LS, Morrison DE, Ramdev RA, Spritzer MD. Testosterone replacement causes dose-dependent improvements in spatial memory among aged male rats. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2020; 113:104550. [PMID: 31901624 PMCID: PMC7080566 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2019.104550] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2019] [Revised: 11/16/2019] [Accepted: 12/11/2019] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Testosterone has been shown to have dose-dependent effects on spatial memory in males, but the effects of aging upon this relationship remain unclear. Additionally, the mechanism by which testosterone regulates memory is unknown, but may involve changes in brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) within specific brain regions. We tested the effects of age and testosterone on spatial memory among male rats using two spatial memory tasks: an object-location memory task (OLMT) and the radial-arm maze (RAM). Castration had minimal effect on performance on the RAM, but young rats (2 months) performed significantly fewer working memory errors than aged rats (20 months), and aged rats performed significantly fewer reference memory errors. Both age and castration impaired performance on the OLMT, with only the young rats with intact gonads successfully performing the task. Subsequent experiments involved daily injections of either drug vehicle or one of four doses of testosterone propionate (0.125, 0.250, 0.500, and 1.00 mg/rat) given to castrated aged males. On the RAM, a low physiological dose (0.125 mg) and high doses (0.500-1.000 mg) of testosterone improved working memory, while an intermediate dose (0.250 mg) did not. On the OLMT, only the 0.250 mg T group showed a significant increase in exploration ratios from the exposure trials to the testing trials, indicating that this group remembered the position of the objects. Brain tissue (prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, and striatum) was collected from all subjects to assay BDNF. We found no evidence that testosterone influenced BDNF, indicating that it is unlikely that testosterone regulates spatial memory through changes in BDNF levels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eliza C B Jaeger
- Program in Neuroscience, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT, 05753, USA.
| | - L Erin Miller
- Program in Neuroscience, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT, 05753, USA.
| | - Emily C Goins
- Program in Neuroscience, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT, 05753, USA.
| | - Chloe E Super
- Program in Neuroscience, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT, 05753, USA.
| | - Christina U Chyr
- Department of Biology, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT, 05753, USA.
| | - John W Lower
- Program in Neuroscience, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT, 05753, USA.
| | - Lauren S Honican
- Program in Neuroscience, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT, 05753, USA.
| | - Daryl E Morrison
- Department of Biology, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT, 05753, USA.
| | - Rajan A Ramdev
- Program in Neuroscience, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT, 05753, USA.
| | - Mark D Spritzer
- Program in Neuroscience, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT, 05753, USA; Department of Biology, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT, 05753, USA.
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Effects of the N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor antagonist, MK-801, on spatial memory and influence of the route of administration. Behav Brain Res 2019; 372:112067. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2019.112067] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2019] [Revised: 06/19/2019] [Accepted: 06/28/2019] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
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12
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Deibel SH, Hong NS, Moore K, Mysyk T, McDonald RJ. Hippocampal-dependent memory retention is unaffected by a T21 light–dark cycle in female Fischer brown Norway rats. BIOL RHYTHM RES 2019. [DOI: 10.1080/09291016.2019.1616454] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Scott H. Deibel
- Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience, Department of Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, Canada
- Department of Psychology, SHD is currently at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Newfoundland, Canada
| | - Nancy S. Hong
- Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience, Department of Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, Canada
| | - Kevan Moore
- Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience, Department of Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, Canada
| | - Tyler Mysyk
- Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience, Department of Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, Canada
| | - Robert J. McDonald
- Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience, Department of Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, Canada
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Richardson J, Comin P, Smiseth PT. Inbred burying beetles suffer fitness costs from making poor decisions. Proc Biol Sci 2018; 285:20180419. [PMID: 30051847 PMCID: PMC6030515 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2018.0419] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2018] [Accepted: 06/04/2018] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
There is growing interest in how environmental conditions, such as resource availability, can modify the severity of inbreeding depression. However, little is known about whether inbreeding depression is also associated with differences in individual decision-making. For example, decisions about how many offspring to produce are often based upon the prevailing environmental conditions, such as resource availability, and getting these decisions wrong may have important fitness consequences for both parents and offspring. We tested for effects of inbreeding on individual decision-making in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides, which uses the size of a carrion resource to make decisions about number of offspring. Both inbred and outbred females adjusted their initial decisions about number of eggs to lay based on carcass size. However, when we forced individuals to update this initial decision by providing them with a different-sized carcass partway through reproduction, inbred females failed to update their decision about how many larvae to cull. Consequently, inbred females reared too many larvae, resulting in negative fitness consequences in the form of smaller offspring and reduced female post-reproductive condition. Our study provides novel insights into the effects of inbreeding by showing that poor decision-making by inbred individuals can negatively affect fitness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jon Richardson
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Pauline Comin
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Per T Smiseth
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
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Mattey SN, Richardson J, Ratz T, Smiseth PT. Effects of Offspring and Parental Inbreeding on Parent-Offspring Communication. Am Nat 2018; 191:716-725. [PMID: 29750564 DOI: 10.1086/697236] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
There is mounting evidence that inbreeding can have complex effects on social interactions among inbred and outbred individuals. Here, we investigate effects of offspring and maternal inbreeding on parent-offspring communication in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides. We find effects of the interaction between offspring and maternal inbreeding on maternal behavior. Outbred females provided more direct care toward inbred larvae, while inbred females provided similar levels of direct care toward inbred and outbred larvae. Furthermore, we find direct and indirect effects of offspring inbreeding on offspring begging and maternal behavior, respectively. Inbred larvae spent less time begging than outbred larvae, and (outbred) females provided more direct care and less indirect care toward inbred larvae. Finally, we find effects of the interaction between offspring and maternal inbreeding on larval body mass. Inbred and outbred offspring grew to a similar size when the female was outbred, while inbred offspring were of a smaller size when the female was inbred. Our results suggest that outbred females provided more care toward inbred offspring to compensate for their poor genetic quality. Our study advances our understanding of inbreeding by showing that inbreeding can have direct effects on the behavior of inbred individuals and indirect effects on the behavior of outbred individuals and that indirect effects on outbred individuals may in turn influence the fitness of inbred individuals.
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Futter JE, Aggleton JP. How rats perform spatial working memory tasks: Limitations in the use of egocentric and idiothetic working memory. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2018; 59:77-99. [PMID: 16556560 DOI: 10.1080/02724990544000068] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
Rats of the Dark Agouti strain were trained on delayed alternation under conditions that should encourage egocentric working memory. In two experiments a T-maze was set within a cross-maze so that different arms could be used for the sample and test runs. The maze had high opaque side-walls, and testing was conducted in low light levels so that distal visual cues might be eliminated. By rotating the maze 90° between the sample and choice run and by using two identical mazes set side by side it was possible to nullify other spatial strategies. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that rats preferentially used place information, intramaze cues, and direction cues, even though only egocentric or idiothetic (nonmatch-to-turn) working memory could successfully solve every trial. Rats were able to maintain an accurate sense of location within the maze even though distal cues were not visible and the animal was moved between the sample and choice runs. Experiment 2 confirmed that another rat strain (Long-Evans) shows the same learning profiles. Both experiments indicate that rats are very poor at using either egocentric or idiothetic information to alternate, and that retention delays as short as 10 s can eliminate the use of these forms of memory.
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16
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de Boer RA, Eens M, Müller W. 'Out of tune': consequences of inbreeding on bird song. Proc Biol Sci 2017; 283:rspb.2016.1142. [PMID: 27466453 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2016.1142] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2016] [Accepted: 07/07/2016] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The expression of bird song is expected to signal male quality to females. 'Quality' is determined by genetic and environmental factors, but, surprisingly, there is very limited evidence if and how genetic aspects of male quality are reflected in song. Here, we manipulated the genetic make-up of canaries (Serinus canaria) via inbreeding, and studied its effects upon song output, complexity, phonetics and, for the first time, song learning. To this end, we created weight-matched inbred and outbred pairs of male fledglings, which were subsequently exposed to the same tutor male during song learning. Inbreeding strongly affected syllable phonetics, but there were little or no effects on other song features. Nonetheless, females discriminated among inbred and outbred males, as they produced heavier clutches when mated with an outbred male. Our study highlights the importance of song phonetics, which has hitherto often been overlooked.
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Affiliation(s)
- Raïssa A de Boer
- Behavioural Ecology and Ecophysiology Group, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium
| | - Marcel Eens
- Behavioural Ecology and Ecophysiology Group, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium
| | - Wendt Müller
- Behavioural Ecology and Ecophysiology Group, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium
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Maynard ME, Barton EA, Robinson CR, Wooden JI, Leasure JL. Sex differences in hippocampal damage, cognitive impairment, and trophic factor expression in an animal model of an alcohol use disorder. Brain Struct Funct 2017; 223:195-210. [PMID: 28752318 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-017-1482-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2016] [Accepted: 07/20/2017] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Compared to men, women disproportionally experience alcohol-related organ damage, including brain damage, and while men remain more likely to drink and to drink heavily, there is cause for concern because women are beginning to narrow the gender gap in alcohol use disorders. The hippocampus is a brain region that is particularly vulnerable to alcohol damage, due to cell loss and decreased neurogenesis. In the present study, we examined sex differences in hippocampal damage following binge alcohol. Consistent with our prior findings, we found a significant binge-induced decrement in dentate gyrus (DG) granule neurons in the female DG. However, in the present study, we found no significant decrement in granule neurons in the male DG. We show that the decrease in granule neurons in females is associated with both spatial navigation impairments and decreased expression of trophic support molecules. Finally, we show that post-binge exercise is associated with an increase in trophic support and repopulation of the granule neuron layer in the female hippocampus. We conclude that sex differences in alcohol-induced hippocampal damage are due in part to a paucity of trophic support and plasticity-related signaling in females.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark E Maynard
- Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, TX, 77204-5022, USA.,Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, University of Texas Health Science Center, PO Box 20708, Houston, TX, 77225-0708, USA
| | - Emily A Barton
- Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, TX, 77204-5022, USA
| | - Caleb R Robinson
- Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, TX, 77204-5022, USA.,Department of Biology, Eastern Nazarene College, 23 E Elm Ave, Shrader Hall 30B, Quincy, MA, 02170, USA
| | - Jessica I Wooden
- Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, TX, 77204-5022, USA
| | - J Leigh Leasure
- Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, TX, 77204-5022, USA. .,Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Houston, Houston, TX, 77204-5022, USA.
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18
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Li G, Wood RI. Male rats play a repeated donation game. Physiol Behav 2017; 174:95-103. [PMID: 28302575 DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2017.03.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2016] [Revised: 03/09/2017] [Accepted: 03/10/2017] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
While previous studies have demonstrated direct and generalized reciprocity in female Norway rats [26], the present study determined if unrelated male laboratory rats respond on behalf of a partner in an iterated sequential game. Pairs of rats worked for food reward in an operant chamber, where participants alternated as Donor and Responder in successive trials. In each trial, the Donor chose between variable and constant reward levers, where the constant reward lever delivered 1 pellet, and the variable reward lever triggered insertion of Responder lever(s); the Donor received 2 pellets when the Responder made any response. In forced-choice constant (FC) trials, the Responder also received 1 pellet for responding on the constant reward lever. In forced-choice variable (FV) trials, the Responder received no pellets for responding on the variable reward lever. In free-choice (FR) trials, the Responder chose between constant (1 pellet) and variable reward levers (0 pellets). With their cagemate, rats earned 61.4±2.0 pellets (64.0±2.1% of 96 possible pellets). As Donor in FC trials, rats preferred the variable reward lever, and the Responder responded frequently. In FV trials, Donor preference for the variable reward lever declined as Responder lever responses decreased. In FR trials, rats alternated responding on variable and constant reward levers as Donor and Responder, respectively. When paired with a new partner, there was no effect on Donor responses, but responses by the Responder decreased in the FV block. Similar effects were observed when paired with a maximally-cooperative stooge. Importantly, rats did not adjust their behavior as Donor to receive more pellets. Results suggest that unrelated male rats will work on behalf of a partner, and that their behavior is sensitive to familiarity, and to cooperative responses by their partner.
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Affiliation(s)
- Grace Li
- Department of Cell and Neurobiology, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033, United States
| | - Ruth I Wood
- Department of Cell and Neurobiology, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033, United States.
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20
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Comparison of spatial learning in the partially baited radial-arm maze task between commonly used rat strains: Wistar, Spargue-Dawley, Long-Evans, and outcrossed Wistar/Sprague-Dawley. Learn Behav 2016; 43:83-94. [PMID: 25537841 DOI: 10.3758/s13420-014-0163-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Strain-related differences in animals' cognitive ability affect the outcomes of experiments and may be responsible for discrepant results obtained by different research groups. Therefore, behavioral phenotyping of laboratory animals belonging to different strains is important. The aim of the present study was to compare the variation in allothetic visuospatial learning in most commonly used laboratory rat strains: inbred Wistar (W) and Sprague-Dawley (SD), outcrossed Wistar/Sprague-Dawley (W/SD), and outbred Long Evans (LE) rats. All rats were trained to the arbitrary performance criterion of 83 % correct responses in the partially baited 12-arm radial maze allowing for simultaneous evaluation of both working and reference memory. In the present study, testing albino versus pigmented and inbred versus outcrossed rats revealed significant strain-dependent differences with the inbred SD rats manifesting lower performance on all learning measures compared to other strains. On the other hand, the outcrossed W/SD rats showed a lower frequency of reference memory errors and faster rate of task acquisition compared to both LE and W rats, with W rats showing a lower frequency of working memory errors compared to other strains. In conclusion, albinism apparently did not reduce the animals' performance in the allothetic visuospatial learning task, while outcrossing improved the spatial learning. A differential effect of strain on the contribution of each error type to the animals' overall performance was observed. The strain-dependent differences were more pronounced between subpopulations of learning-deficient individuals ("poor" learners), and generally the reference memory errors contributed more to the final behavioral output than did the working memory errors.
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21
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Ihalainen J, Savolainen K, Tanila H, Forsberg MM. Comparison of phencyclidine-induced spatial learning and memory deficits and reversal by sertindole and risperidone between Lister Hooded and Wistar rats. Behav Brain Res 2016; 305:140-7. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2016.02.032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2015] [Revised: 02/23/2016] [Accepted: 02/26/2016] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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22
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Slavík O, Horký P, Wackermannová M. How does agonistic behaviour differ in albino and pigmented fish? PeerJ 2016; 4:e1937. [PMID: 27114883 PMCID: PMC4841223 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.1937] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2016] [Accepted: 03/24/2016] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
In addition to hypopigmentation of the skin and red iris colouration, albino animals also display distinct physiological and behavioural alterations. However, information on the social interactions of albino animals is rare and has mostly been limited to specially bred strains of albino rodents and animals from unique environments in caves. Differentiating between the effects of albinism and domestication on behaviour in rodents can be difficult, and social behaviour in cave fish changes according to species-specific adaptations to conditions of permanent darkness. The agonistic behaviours of albino offspring of pigmented parents have yet to be described. In this study, we observed agonistic behaviour in albino and pigmented juvenile Silurus glanis catfish. We found that the total number of aggressive interactions was lower in albinos than in pigmented catfish. The distance between conspecifics was also analysed, and albinos showed a tendency towards greater separation from their same-coloured conspecifics compared with pigmented catfish. These results demonstrate that albinism can be associated with lower aggressiveness and with reduced shoaling behaviour preference, as demonstrated by a tendency towards greater separation of albinos from conspecifics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ondřej Slavík
- Department of Zoology and Fisheries, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague , Prague , Czech Republic
| | - Pavel Horký
- Department of Zoology and Fisheries, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague , Prague , Czech Republic
| | - Marie Wackermannová
- Department of Zoology and Fisheries, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague , Prague , Czech Republic
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23
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Slavík O, Horký P, Wackermannová M. How does agonistic behaviour differ in albino and pigmented fish? PeerJ 2016. [PMID: 27114883 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.1937.] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
In addition to hypopigmentation of the skin and red iris colouration, albino animals also display distinct physiological and behavioural alterations. However, information on the social interactions of albino animals is rare and has mostly been limited to specially bred strains of albino rodents and animals from unique environments in caves. Differentiating between the effects of albinism and domestication on behaviour in rodents can be difficult, and social behaviour in cave fish changes according to species-specific adaptations to conditions of permanent darkness. The agonistic behaviours of albino offspring of pigmented parents have yet to be described. In this study, we observed agonistic behaviour in albino and pigmented juvenile Silurus glanis catfish. We found that the total number of aggressive interactions was lower in albinos than in pigmented catfish. The distance between conspecifics was also analysed, and albinos showed a tendency towards greater separation from their same-coloured conspecifics compared with pigmented catfish. These results demonstrate that albinism can be associated with lower aggressiveness and with reduced shoaling behaviour preference, as demonstrated by a tendency towards greater separation of albinos from conspecifics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ondřej Slavík
- Department of Zoology and Fisheries, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague , Prague , Czech Republic
| | - Pavel Horký
- Department of Zoology and Fisheries, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague , Prague , Czech Republic
| | - Marie Wackermannová
- Department of Zoology and Fisheries, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague , Prague , Czech Republic
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24
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Scullion K, Guy AR, Singleton A, Spanswick SC, Hill MN, Teskey GC. Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) affects forelimb motor map expression but has little effect on skilled and unskilled behavior. Neuroscience 2016; 319:134-45. [PMID: 26826333 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2016.01.050] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2015] [Revised: 01/22/2016] [Accepted: 01/22/2016] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
It has previously been shown in rats that acute administration of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) exerts a dose-dependent effect on simple locomotor activity, with low doses of THC causing hyper-locomotion and high doses causing hypo-locomotion. However the effect of acute THC administration on cortical movement representations (motor maps) and skilled learned movements is completely unknown. It is important to determine the effects of THC on motor maps and skilled learned behaviors because behaviors like driving place people at a heightened risk. Three doses of THC were used in the current study: 0.2mg/kg, 1.0mg/kg and 2.5mg/kg representing the approximate range of the low to high levels of available THC one would consume from recreational use of cannabis. Acute peripheral administration of THC to drug naïve rats resulted in dose-dependent alterations in motor map expression using high resolution short duration intracortical microstimulation (SD-ICMS). THC at 0.2mg/kg decreased movement thresholds and increased motor map size, while 1.0mg/kg had the opposite effect, and 2.5mg/kg had an even more dramatic effect. Deriving complex movement maps using long duration (LD)-ICMS at 1.0mg/kg resulted in fewer complex movements. Dosages of 1.0mg/kg and 2.5mg/kg THC reduced the number of reach attempts but did not affect percentage of success or the kinetics of reaching on the single pellet skilled reaching task. Rats that received 2.5mg/kg THC did show an increase in latency of forelimb removal on the bar task, while dose-dependent effects of THC on unskilled locomotor activity using the rotorod and horizontal ladder tasks were not observed. Rats may be employing compensatory strategies after receiving THC, which may account for the robust changes in motor map expression but moderate effects on behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- K Scullion
- Department of Neuroscience, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N 4N1, Canada; Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N 4N1, Canada
| | - A R Guy
- Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N 4N1, Canada
| | - A Singleton
- Department of Neuroscience, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N 4N1, Canada; Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N 4N1, Canada
| | - S C Spanswick
- Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N 4N1, Canada
| | - M N Hill
- Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N 4N1, Canada; Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N 4N1, Canada
| | - G C Teskey
- Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N 4N1, Canada; Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N 4N1, Canada.
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25
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Laboratory domestication changed the expression patterns of oxytocin and vasopressin in brains of rats and mice. Anat Sci Int 2015; 91:358-70. [DOI: 10.1007/s12565-015-0311-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2015] [Accepted: 10/11/2015] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
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26
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Peinado A, Abrams CK. Patterns of Spontaneous Local Network Activity in Developing Cerebral Cortex: Relationship to Adult Cognitive Function. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0131259. [PMID: 26098958 PMCID: PMC4476761 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0131259] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2015] [Accepted: 05/29/2015] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Detecting neurodevelopμental disorders of cognition at the earliest possible stages could assist in understanding them mechanistically and ultimately in treating them. Finding early physiological predictors that could be visualized with functional neuroimaging would represent an important advance in this regard. We hypothesized that one potential source of physiological predictors is the spontaneous local network activity prominent during specific periods in development. To test this we used calcium imaging in brain slices and analyzed variations in the frequency and intensity of this early activity in one area, the entorhinal cortex (EC), in order to correlate early activity with level of cognitive function later in life. We focused on EC because of its known role in different types of cognitive processes and because it is an area where spontaneous activity is prominent during early postnatal development in rodent models of cortical development. Using rat strains (Long-Evans, Wistar, Sprague-Dawley and Brattleboro) known to differ in cognitive performance in adulthood we asked whether neonatal animals exhibit corresponding strain-related differences in EC spontaneous activity. Our results show significant differences in this activity between strains: compared to a high cognitive-performing strain, we consistently found an increase in frequency and decrease in intensity in neonates from three lower performing strains. Activity was most different in one strain considered a model of schizophrenia-like psychopathology. While we cannot necessarily infer a causal relationship between early activity and adult cognition our findings suggest that the pattern of spontaneous activity in development could be an early predictor of a developmental trajectory advancing toward sub-optimal cognitive performance in adulthood. Our results further suggest that the strength of dopaminergic signaling, by setting the balance between excitation and inhibition, is a potential underlying mechanism that could explain the observed differences in early spontaneous activity patterns.
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MESH Headings
- Age Factors
- Animals
- Animals, Newborn/anatomy & histology
- Animals, Newborn/growth & development
- Cerebral Cortex/growth & development
- Cognition/physiology
- Entorhinal Cortex/anatomy & histology
- Entorhinal Cortex/growth & development
- Nerve Net/anatomy & histology
- Nerve Net/growth & development
- Nerve Net/physiology
- Rats
- Rats, Brattleboro/growth & development
- Rats, Brattleboro/physiology
- Rats, Long-Evans/growth & development
- Rats, Long-Evans/physiology
- Rats, Sprague-Dawley/growth & development
- Rats, Sprague-Dawley/physiology
- Rats, Wistar/growth & development
- Rats, Wistar/physiology
- Receptors, Dopamine D1/physiology
- Receptors, Dopamine D5/physiology
- Receptors, GABA-A/physiology
- Species Specificity
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Affiliation(s)
- Alejandro Peinado
- Department of Neurology and Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - Charles K. Abrams
- Department of Neurology and Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York, United States of America
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Martínez-Membrives E, López-Aumatell R, Blázquez G, Cañete T, Tobeña A, Fernández-Teruel A. Spatial learning in the genetically heterogeneous NIH-HS rat stock and RLA-I/RHA-I rats: revisiting the relationship with unconditioned and conditioned anxiety. Physiol Behav 2015; 144:15-25. [PMID: 25747770 DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2015.03.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2014] [Revised: 02/27/2015] [Accepted: 03/02/2015] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
To characterize learning/memory profiles for the first time in the genetically heterogeneous NIH-HS rat stock, and to examine whether these are associated with anxiety, we evaluated NIH-HS rats for spatial learning/memory in the Morris water maze (MWM) and in the following anxiety/fear tests: the elevated zero-maze (ZM; unconditioned anxiety), a context-conditioned fear test and the acquisition of two-way active avoidance (conditioned anxiety). NIH-HS rats were compared with the Roman High- (RHA-I) and Low-Avoidance (RLA-I) rat strains, given the well-known differences between the Roman strains/lines in anxiety-related behavior and in spatial learning/memory. The results show that: (i) As expected, RLA-I rats were more anxious in the ZM test, displayed more frequent context-conditioned freezing episodes and fewer avoidances than RHA-I rats. (ii) Scores of NIH-HS rats in these tests/tasks mostly fell in between those of the Roman rat strains, and were usually closer to the values of the RLA-I strain. (iii) Pigmented NIH-HS (only a small part of NIH-HS rats were albino) rats were the best spatial learners and displayed better spatial memory than the other three (RHA-I, RLA-I and NIH-HS albino) groups. (iv) Albino NIH-HS and RLA-I rats also showed better learning/memory than the RHA-I strain. (v) Within the NIH-HS stock, the most anxious rats in the ZM test presented the best learning and/or memory efficiency (regardless of pigmentation). In summary, NIH-HS rats display a high performance in spatial learning/memory tasks and a passive coping strategy when facing conditioned conflict situations. In addition, unconditioned anxiety in NIH-HS rats predicts better spatial learning/memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Esther Martínez-Membrives
- Medical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine, Institute of Neurosciences, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain.
| | - Regina López-Aumatell
- Medical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine, Institute of Neurosciences, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Gloria Blázquez
- Medical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine, Institute of Neurosciences, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Toni Cañete
- Medical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine, Institute of Neurosciences, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Adolf Tobeña
- Medical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine, Institute of Neurosciences, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Alberto Fernández-Teruel
- Medical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine, Institute of Neurosciences, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain.
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Devecioğlu İ, Güçlü B. A novel vibrotactile system for stimulating the glabrous skin of awake freely behaving rats during operant conditioning. J Neurosci Methods 2015; 242:41-51. [PMID: 25593046 DOI: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2015.01.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2014] [Revised: 01/02/2015] [Accepted: 01/03/2015] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
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29
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Age-related changes in the central auditory system. Cell Tissue Res 2015; 361:337-58. [DOI: 10.1007/s00441-014-2107-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 79] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2014] [Accepted: 12/22/2014] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
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30
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Domestication effects on behavioural traits and learning performance: comparing wild cavies to guinea pigs. Anim Cogn 2014; 18:99-109. [PMID: 24997777 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-014-0781-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2014] [Revised: 06/04/2014] [Accepted: 06/25/2014] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
The domestication process leads to a change in behavioural traits, usually towards individuals that are less attentive to changes in their environment and less aggressive. Empirical evidence for a difference in cognitive performance, however, is scarce. Recently, a functional linkage between an individual's behaviour and cognitive performance has been proposed in the framework of animal personalities via a shared risk-reward trade-off. Following this assumption, bolder and more aggressive animals (usually the wild form) should learn faster. Differences in behaviour may arise during ontogeny due to individual experiences or represent adaptations that occurred over the course of evolution. Both might singly or taken together account for differences in cognitive performance between wild and domestic lineages. To test for such possible linkages, we compared wild cavies and domestic guinea pigs, both kept in a university stock for more than 30 years under highly comparable conditions. Animals were tested in three behavioural tests as well as for initial and reversal learning performance. Guinea pigs were less bold and aggressive than their wild congeners, but learnt an association faster. Additionally, the personality structure was altered during the domestication process. The most likely explanation for these findings is that a shift in behavioural traits and their connectivity led to an altered cognitive performance. A functional linkage between behavioural and cognitive traits seems to exist in the proposed way only under natural selection, but not in animals that have been selected artificially over centuries.
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31
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Blázquez G, Cañete T, Tobeña A, Giménez-Llort L, Fernández-Teruel A. Cognitive and emotional profiles of aged Alzheimer's disease (3×TgAD) mice: effects of environmental enrichment and sexual dimorphism. Behav Brain Res 2014; 268:185-201. [PMID: 24746486 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2014.04.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2014] [Accepted: 04/05/2014] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder associated with age which represents the most common cause of dementia. It is characterized by an accelerated memory loss compared to normal aging, and deterioration of other cognitive abilities that interfere with mood, reason, judgment and language. The main neuropathological hallmarks of the disorder are β-amyloid (βA) plaques and neurofibrillary Tau tangles. Triple transgenic 3×TgAD mouse model develops βA and Tau pathologies in a progressive manner, with a specific temporal and anatomic profile mimicking the pattern that takes place in the human brain with AD, and showing cognitive alterations characteristic of the disease. Environmental enrichment treatment in mice induces behavioral and emotional reactivity changes, including cognitive improvements in some AD-related transgenic mice. The present work intended to characterize the behavioral profile of 3×TgAD mice at advanced stages of neuropathological development (12 and 15 months of age) and to investigate whether environmental enrichment administered during adulthood was able to modify some of their behavioral and cognitive alterations. Results show that, at advanced stages of the disease 3×TgAD mice show deficits of spatial learning acquisition, as well as short-term and working memory deficits, while displaying increased levels of anxiety/fearfulness and normal sensorimotor functions. 3×TgAD mice also show sexual dimorphism, as reflected by increased cognitive deficits in females and increased levels of novelty-induced behavioral inhibition in males. Environmental enrichment exerts some slight positive effects, by mainly improving the initial acquisition of the spatial learning and working memory in 12-month-old 3×TgAD mice. Such effects vary depending on the gender.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gloria Blázquez
- Medical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine, Institute of Neuroscience, Autonomous University of Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain.
| | - Toni Cañete
- Medical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine, Institute of Neuroscience, Autonomous University of Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain.
| | - Adolf Tobeña
- Medical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine, Institute of Neuroscience, Autonomous University of Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain.
| | - Lydia Giménez-Llort
- Medical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine, Institute of Neuroscience, Autonomous University of Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain.
| | - Alberto Fernández-Teruel
- Medical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine, Institute of Neuroscience, Autonomous University of Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain.
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Pace E, Zhang J. Noise-induced tinnitus using individualized gap detection analysis and its relationship with hyperacusis, anxiety, and spatial cognition. PLoS One 2013; 8:e75011. [PMID: 24069375 PMCID: PMC3771890 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0075011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2013] [Accepted: 08/10/2013] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Tinnitus has a complex etiology that involves auditory and non-auditory factors and may be accompanied by hyperacusis, anxiety and cognitive changes. Thus far, investigations of the interrelationship between tinnitus and auditory and non-auditory impairment have yielded conflicting results. To further address this issue, we noise exposed rats and assessed them for tinnitus using a gap detection behavioral paradigm combined with statistically-driven analysis to diagnose tinnitus in individual rats. We also tested rats for hearing detection, responsivity, and loss using prepulse inhibition and auditory brainstem response, and for spatial cognition and anxiety using Morris water maze and elevated plus maze. We found that our tinnitus diagnosis method reliably separated noise-exposed rats into tinnitus(+) and tinnitus(−) groups and detected no evidence of tinnitus in tinnitus(−) and control rats. In addition, the tinnitus(+) group demonstrated enhanced startle amplitude, indicating hyperacusis-like behavior. Despite these results, neither tinnitus, hyperacusis nor hearing loss yielded any significant effects on spatial learning and memory or anxiety, though a majority of rats with the highest anxiety levels had tinnitus. These findings showed that we were able to develop a clinically relevant tinnitus(+) group and that our diagnosis method is sound. At the same time, like clinical studies, we found that tinnitus does not always result in cognitive-emotional dysfunction, although tinnitus may predispose subjects to certain impairment like anxiety. Other behavioral assessments may be needed to further define the relationship between tinnitus and anxiety, cognitive deficits, and other impairments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edward Pace
- Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan, United States of America
| | - Jinsheng Zhang
- Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan, United States of America
- Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders, Wayne State University College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, Detroit, Michigan, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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Entlerova M, Lobellova V, Hatalova H, Zemanova A, Vales K, Stuchlik A. Comparison of Long-Evans and Wistar rats in sensitivity to central cholinergic blockade with scopolamine in two spatial tasks: An active place avoidance and the Morris water maze. Physiol Behav 2013; 120:11-8. [DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2013.06.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2012] [Revised: 01/13/2013] [Accepted: 06/27/2013] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
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Turner KM, Burne THJ. Interaction of genotype and environment: effect of strain and housing conditions on cognitive behavior in rodent models of schizophrenia. Front Behav Neurosci 2013; 7:97. [PMID: 23914162 PMCID: PMC3728474 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2013.00097] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2013] [Accepted: 07/16/2013] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Schizophrenia is associated with many genetic and environmental risk factors and there is growing evidence that the interactions between genetic and environmental "hits" are critical for disease onset. Animal models of schizophrenia have traditionally used specific strain and housing conditions to test potential risk factors. As the field moves towards testing gene (G) x environment (E) interactions the impact of these choices should be considered. Given the surge of research focused on cognitive deficits, we have examined studies of cognition in rodents from the perspective of GxE interactions, in which strain or housing manipulations have been varied. Behavior is clearly altered by these factors, yet few animal models of schizophrenia have investigated cognitive deficits using different strain and housing conditions. It is important to recognise the large variation in behavior observed when using different strain and housing combinations because GxE interactions may mask or exacerbate cognitive outcomes. Further consideration will improve our understanding of GxE interactions and the underlying neurobiology of cognitive impairments in neuropsychiatric disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karly M. Turner
- Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, BrisbaneQLD, Australia
| | - Thomas H. J. Burne
- Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, BrisbaneQLD, Australia
- Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research, The Park Centre for Mental Health, WacolQLD, Australia
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Abstract
Although numerous experimental investigations have evaluated the neurobehavioral effects of either short periods of total sleep deprivation or selective rapid eye movement sleep deprivation, few studies have examined the effects of chronic sleep restriction (CSR). Long-Evans rats were deprived of sleep by the automated movement of activity wheels for 18 h/day for 5 consecutive days from 16:00 to 10:00 h, and were allowed 6 h/day of sleep opportunity (10:00-16:00 h; lights on from 10:00 to 22:00 h). Activity wheels were intermittently activated on a 3 s on : 12 s off schedule for the CSR condition, whereas a schedule of 36 min of continuous wheel movement in every 3 h was used for a cage movement control condition. A cross-over design was used with rats serving in both the CSR and the movement control conditions with 2 days of rest between conditions. Water maze acquisition training occurred at 16:00 h immediately after the 6-h sleep opportunity on each of the first 4 days, followed by a probe trial on day 5 to assess spatial memory recall. Although the rate of learning/acquisition was not affected by the daily 18 h of CSR, the day 5 recall of the platform location was impaired on three different probe trial measures. Thus, CSR impaired spatial memory, but did not affect the rate of learning/acquisition in the water maze.
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Stryjek R, Modlińska K, Turlejski K, Pisula W. Circadian rhythm of outside-nest activity in wild (WWCPS), albino and pigmented laboratory rats. PLoS One 2013; 8:e66055. [PMID: 23762462 PMCID: PMC3676357 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0066055] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2012] [Accepted: 05/06/2013] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
The domestication process of the laboratory rat has been going on for several hundred generations in stable environmental conditions, which may have affected their physiological and behavioural functions, including their circadian system. Rats tested in our ethological experiments were laboratory-bred wild Norway rats (WWCPS), two strains of pigmented laboratory rats (Brown Norway and Long Evans), and two strains of albino rats (Sprague-Dawley and Wistar). Rats were placed in purpose-built enclosures and their cycle of activity (time spent actively outside the nest) has been studied for one week in standard light conditions and for the next one in round-the-clock darkness. The analysis of circadian pattern of outside-nest activity revealed differences between wild, pigmented laboratory, and albino laboratory strains. During daytime, albino rats showed lower activity than pigmented rats, greater decrease in activity when the light was turned on and greater increase in activity when the light was switched off, than pigmented rats. Moreover albino rats presented higher activity during the night than wild rats. The magnitude of the change in activity between daytime and nighttime was also more pronounced in albino rats. Additionaly, they slept outside the nest more often during the night than during the day. These results can be interpreted in accordance with the proposition that intense light is an aversive stimulus for albino rats, due to lack of pigment in their iris and choroid, which reduces their ability to adapt to light. Pigmented laboratory rats were more active during lights on, not only in comparison to the albino, but also to the wild rats. Since the difference seems to be independent of light intensity, it is likely to be a result of the domestication process. Cosinor analysis revealed a high rhythmicity of circadian cycles in all groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rafał Stryjek
- Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.
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Zhao S, Zhao M, Xiao T, Jolkkonen J, Zhao C. Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy Overcomes the Intrinsic Axonal Growth–Inhibitory Signals in Stroke Rats. Stroke 2013; 44:1698-705. [PMID: 23632976 DOI: 10.1161/strokeaha.111.000361] [Citation(s) in RCA: 64] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Background and Purpose—
Constraint-induced movement therapy (CIMT) improves functional outcome in patients with stroke possibly through structural plasticity. We hypothesized that CIMT could enhance axonal growth by overcoming the intrinsic growth–inhibitory signals, leading eventually to improved behavioral performance in stroke rats.
Methods—
Focal cerebral ischemia was induced by intracerebral injection of endothelin-1. Adult Wistar rats were divided into a sham-operated group, an ischemic group, and an ischemic group treated with CIMT. CIMT started at postoperative day 7 and continued for 3 weeks. Biotinylated dextran amine was injected into the contralateral sensorimotor cortex at postoperative day 14 to trace crossing axons at the cervical spinal cord. The expressions of Nogo-A, Nogo receptor, RhoA, and Rho-associated kinase in the peri-infarct cortex, and the expressions of biotinylated dextran amine, growth associated protein-43, synaptophysin, vGlut1, and postsynaptic density-95 in the denervated spinal cord were measured by immunohistochemistry and Western blots. Behavioral recovery was analyzed at postoperative days 29 to 32.
Results—
Infarct volumes were not different between groups after stroke. CIMT significantly increased the length and the number of midline crossings of contralateral corticospinal axons to the denervated cervical spinal cord. CIMT significantly decreased the expressions of Nogo-A/Nogo receptor and RhoA/Rho-associated kinase in the peri-infarct cortex, and increased the expressions of growth associated protein-43, synaptophysin, vGlut1, and postsynaptic density-95 in the denervated cervical spinal cord. Behavioral performances assessed by the beam-walking test and the water maze test were improved significantly by CIMT.
Conclusions—
CIMT promoted poststroke synaptic plasticity and axonal growth at least partially by overcoming the intrinsic growth–inhibitory signaling, leading to improved behavioral outcome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shanshan Zhao
- From the Department of Neurology (S.Z., C.Z.), and Department of Dermatology (T.X.), The First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning, PR China; Department of Cardiology, Shengjing hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning, PR China (M.Z.); Key Laboratory of Immunodermatology, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, Shenyang, Liaoning, PR China (T.X.); and Institute of Clinical Medicine–Neurology, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland (J.J.)
| | - Mei Zhao
- From the Department of Neurology (S.Z., C.Z.), and Department of Dermatology (T.X.), The First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning, PR China; Department of Cardiology, Shengjing hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning, PR China (M.Z.); Key Laboratory of Immunodermatology, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, Shenyang, Liaoning, PR China (T.X.); and Institute of Clinical Medicine–Neurology, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland (J.J.)
| | - Ting Xiao
- From the Department of Neurology (S.Z., C.Z.), and Department of Dermatology (T.X.), The First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning, PR China; Department of Cardiology, Shengjing hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning, PR China (M.Z.); Key Laboratory of Immunodermatology, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, Shenyang, Liaoning, PR China (T.X.); and Institute of Clinical Medicine–Neurology, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland (J.J.)
| | - Jukka Jolkkonen
- From the Department of Neurology (S.Z., C.Z.), and Department of Dermatology (T.X.), The First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning, PR China; Department of Cardiology, Shengjing hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning, PR China (M.Z.); Key Laboratory of Immunodermatology, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, Shenyang, Liaoning, PR China (T.X.); and Institute of Clinical Medicine–Neurology, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland (J.J.)
| | - Chuansheng Zhao
- From the Department of Neurology (S.Z., C.Z.), and Department of Dermatology (T.X.), The First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning, PR China; Department of Cardiology, Shengjing hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning, PR China (M.Z.); Key Laboratory of Immunodermatology, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, Shenyang, Liaoning, PR China (T.X.); and Institute of Clinical Medicine–Neurology, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland (J.J.)
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Jašarević E, Williams SA, Vandas GM, Ellersieck MR, Liao C, Kannan K, Roberts RM, Geary DC, Rosenfeld CS. Sex and dose-dependent effects of developmental exposure to bisphenol A on anxiety and spatial learning in deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus bairdii) offspring. Horm Behav 2013; 63:180-9. [PMID: 23051835 PMCID: PMC3540128 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2012.09.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 97] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2012] [Revised: 09/27/2012] [Accepted: 09/28/2012] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
Bisphenol A (BPA) is a widely produced, endocrine disrupting compound that is pervasive in the environment. Data suggest that developmental exposure to BPA during sexual differentiation of the brain leads to later behavioral consequences in offspring. Outbred deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus bairdii) are an excellent animal model for such studies as they exhibit well-defined sex- and steroid-dependent behaviors. Here, dams during gestation and lactation were fed with a phytoestrogen-free control diet, the same diet supplemented with either ethinyl estradiol (0.1 ppb), or one of the three doses of BPA (50 mg, 5 mg, 50 μg/kg feed weight). After weaning, the pups were maintained on control diet until they reached sexual maturity and then assessed for both spatial learning capabilities and anxiety-like and exploratory behaviors. Relative to controls, males exposed to the two upper but not the lowest dose of BPA demonstrated similar impairments in spatial learning, increased anxiety and reduced exploratory behaviors as ethinyl estradiol-exposed males, while females exposed to ethinyl estradiol, but not to BPA, consistently exhibited masculinized spatial abilities. We also determined whether dams maintained chronically on the upper dose of BPA contained environmentally relevant concentrations of BPA in their blood. While serum concentrations of unconjugated BPA in controls were below the minimum level of detection, those from dams on the BPA diet were comparable (5.48±2.07 ng/ml) to concentrations that have been observed in humans. Together, these studies demonstrate that developmental exposure to environmentally relevant concentrations of BPA can disrupt adult behaviors in a dose- and sex-dependent manner.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eldin Jašarević
- Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program, Center for Translational Neuroscience, University of Missouri, Columbia MO 65211
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia MO 65211
- Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders, University of Missouri, Columbia MO 65211
| | - Scott A. Williams
- Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia MO 65211
- Bond Life Sciences Center, University of Missouri, Columbia MO 65211
| | - Gregory M. Vandas
- Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia MO 65211
- Bond Life Sciences Center, University of Missouri, Columbia MO 65211
| | - Mark R. Ellersieck
- College of Agriculture Food and Nutritional Resources-Statitician, University of Missouri, Columbia MO 65211
| | - Chunyang Liao
- Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, and Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, State University of New York at Albany, Albany, NY
| | - Kurunthachalam Kannan
- Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, and Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, State University of New York at Albany, Albany, NY
| | - R. Michael Roberts
- Bond Life Sciences Center, University of Missouri, Columbia MO 65211
- Department of Animal Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia MO 65211
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Missouri, Columbia MO 65211
| | - David C. Geary
- Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program, Center for Translational Neuroscience, University of Missouri, Columbia MO 65211
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia MO 65211
| | - Cheryl S. Rosenfeld
- Bond Life Sciences Center, University of Missouri, Columbia MO 65211
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia MO 65211
- Corresponding author: Biomedical Sciences and Bond Life Sciences Center, University of Missouri, 440F Bond Life Sciences Center, 1201 E. Rollins Rd., Columbia, MO 65211. , phone: (573) 882-5132, and fax: (573) 884-9395.
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Ouda L, Syka J. Immunocytochemical profiles of inferior colliculus neurons in the rat and their changes with aging. Front Neural Circuits 2012; 6:68. [PMID: 23049499 PMCID: PMC3448074 DOI: 10.3389/fncir.2012.00068] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/18/2012] [Accepted: 09/04/2012] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
The inferior colliculus (IC) plays a strategic role in the central auditory system in relaying and processing acoustical information, and therefore its age-related changes may significantly influence the quality of the auditory function. A very complex processing of acoustical stimuli occurs in the IC, as supported also by the fact that the rat IC contains more neurons than all other subcortical auditory structures combined. GABAergic neurons, which predominantly co-express parvalbumin (PV), are present in the central nucleus of the IC in large numbers and to a lesser extent in the dorsal and external/lateral cortices of the IC. On the other hand, calbindin (CB) and calretinin (CR) are prevalent in the dorsal and external cortices of the IC, with only a few positive neurons in the central nucleus. The relationship between CB and CR expression in the IC and any neurotransmitter system has not yet been well established, but the distribution and morphology of the immunoreactive neurons suggest that they are at least partially non-GABAergic cells. The expression of glutamate decarboxylase (GAD) (a key enzyme for GABA synthesis) and calcium binding proteins (CBPs) in the IC of rats undergoes pronounced changes with aging that involve mostly a decline in protein expression and a decline in the number of immunoreactive neurons. Similar age-related changes in GAD, CB, and CR expression are present in the IC of two rat strains with differently preserved inner ear function up to late senescence (Long-Evans and Fischer 344), which suggests that these changes do not depend exclusively on peripheral deafferentation but are, at least partially, of central origin. These changes may be associated with the age-related deterioration in the processing of the temporal parameters of acoustical stimuli, which is not correlated with hearing threshold shifts, and therefore may contribute to central presbycusis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ladislav Ouda
- Institute of Experimental Medicine, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Prague, Czech Republic
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Stryjek R, Modlińska K, Pisula W. Species specific behavioural patterns (digging and swimming) and reaction to novel objects in wild type, Wistar, Sprague-Dawley and Brown Norway rats. PLoS One 2012; 7:e40642. [PMID: 22815778 PMCID: PMC3398036 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0040642] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2012] [Accepted: 06/11/2012] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Background The purpose of the present study was to analyse species-specific forms of behaviour (digging and swimming) and response to novelty in laboratory rats and their wild type counterparts at a very early stage of laboratorization. Three behavioural phenomena were taken into account: burrowing, spontaneous swimming, and neophobic behaviour. Principal Findings Wild-type rats and three strains of laboratory rats were involved in experiments: Warsaw-Wild-Captive-Pisula-Stryjek (WWCPS), Wistar, Sprague-Dawley, and Brown Norway rats were compared in spontaneous swimming test, while WWCPS and Wistar rats were studied in burrowing and neophobia experiments. Wild rats were found to be faster at building tunnels than Wistar rats and at constructing more complex burrow systems. The experiment on neophobia showed that Wistar rats exhibited less neophobic responses and were more often trapped. WWCPS rats showed highly neophobic behaviour and were rarely trapped in this experiment. The experiment on swimming showed that WWCPS rats showed more complex water tank related activity than their laboratory counterparts. They swam and explored under surface environment. Conclusions The three experiments showed profound behavioural differences in quasi-natural forms of behaviour between wild type rats (WWCPS) and three laboratory strains frequently used in behavioural studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rafał Stryjek
- Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
- Helena Chodkowska University of Management and Law, Warsaw, Poland
| | | | - Wojciech Pisula
- Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
- * E-mail:
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Age-related changes in calbindin and calretinin immunoreactivity in the central auditory system of the rat. Exp Gerontol 2012; 47:497-506. [DOI: 10.1016/j.exger.2012.04.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2012] [Revised: 03/22/2012] [Accepted: 04/10/2012] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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Pyramidal neurons in the superficial layers of rat retrosplenial cortex exhibit a late-spiking firing property. Brain Struct Funct 2012; 218:239-54. [PMID: 22383041 PMCID: PMC3535347 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-012-0398-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2011] [Accepted: 02/10/2012] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
The rodent granular retrosplenial cortex (GRS) is reciprocally connected with the hippocampus. It is part of several networks implicated in spatial learning and memory, and is known to contain head-direction cells. There are, however, few specifics concerning the mechanisms and microcircuitry underlying its involvement in spatial and mnemonic functions. In this report, we set out to characterize intrinsic properties of a distinctive population of small pyramidal neurons in layer 2 of rat GRS. These neurons, as well as those in adjoining layer 3, were found to exhibit a late-spiking (LS) firing property. We established by multiple criteria that the LS property is a consequence of delayed rectifier and A-type potassium channels. These were identified as Kv1.1, Kv1.4 and Kv4.3 by Genechip analysis, in situ hybridization, single-cell reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, and pharmacological blockade. The LS property might facilitate comparison or integration of synaptic inputs during an interval delay, consistent with the proposed role of the GRS in memory-related processes.
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McCoy JG, Strecker RE. The cognitive cost of sleep lost. Neurobiol Learn Mem 2011; 96:564-82. [PMID: 21875679 DOI: 10.1016/j.nlm.2011.07.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 177] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2011] [Revised: 07/12/2011] [Accepted: 07/25/2011] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
A substantial body of literature supports the intuitive notion that a good night's sleep can facilitate human cognitive performance the next day. Deficits in attention, learning & memory, emotional reactivity, and higher-order cognitive processes, such as executive function and decision making, have all been documented following sleep disruption in humans. Thus, whilst numerous clinical and experimental studies link human sleep disturbance to cognitive deficits, attempts to develop valid and reliable rodent models of these phenomena are fewer, and relatively more recent. This review focuses primarily on the cognitive impairments produced by sleep disruption in rodent models of several human patterns of sleep loss/sleep disturbance. Though not an exclusive list, this review will focus on four specific types of sleep disturbance: total sleep deprivation, experimental sleep fragmentation, selective REM sleep deprivation, and chronic sleep restriction. The use of rodent models can provide greater opportunities to understand the neurobiological changes underlying sleep loss induced cognitive impairments. Thus, this review concludes with a description of recent neurobiological findings concerning the neuroplastic changes and putative brain mechanisms that may underlie the cognitive deficits produced by sleep disturbances.
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Affiliation(s)
- John G McCoy
- VA Boston Healthcare System, Research Service and Harvard Medical School, Department of Psychiatry, 940 Belmont St., Brockton, MA 02301-5596, USA.
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Boogert NJ, Fawcett TW, Lefebvre L. Mate choice for cognitive traits: a review of the evidence in nonhuman vertebrates. Behav Ecol 2011. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arq173] [Citation(s) in RCA: 110] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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45
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Spritzer MD, Daviau ED, Coneeny MK, Engelman SM, Prince WT, Rodriguez-Wisdom KN. Effects of testosterone on spatial learning and memory in adult male rats. Horm Behav 2011; 59:484-96. [PMID: 21295035 PMCID: PMC3081396 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2011.01.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 99] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2010] [Revised: 01/20/2011] [Accepted: 01/26/2011] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
A male advantage over females for spatial tasks has been well documented in both humans and rodents, but it remains unclear how the activational effects of testosterone influence spatial ability in males. In a series of experiments, we tested how injections of testosterone influenced the spatial working and reference memory of castrated male rats. In the eight-arm radial maze, testosterone injections (0.500 mg/rat) reduced the number of working memory errors during the early blocks of testing but had no effect on the number of reference memory errors relative to the castrated control group. In a reference memory version of the Morris water maze, injections of a wide range of testosterone doses (0.0625-1.000 mg/rat) reduced path lengths to the hidden platform, indicative of improved spatial learning. This improved learning was independent of testosterone dose, with all treatment groups showing better performance than the castrated control males. Furthermore, this effect was only observed when rats were given testosterone injections starting 7 days prior to water maze testing and not when injections were given only on the testing days. We also observed that certain doses of testosterone (0.250 and 1.000 mg/rat) increased perseverative behavior in a reversal-learning task. Finally, testosterone did not have a clear effect on spatial working memory in the Morris water maze, although intermediate doses seemed to optimize performance. Overall, the results indicate that testosterone can have positive activational effects on spatial learning and memory, but the duration of testosterone replacement and the nature of the spatial task modify these effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark D Spritzer
- Department of Biology, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT 05753, USA.
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Epp J, Scott N, Galea L. Strain differences in neurogenesis and activation of new neurons in the dentate gyrus in response to spatial learning. Neuroscience 2011; 172:342-54. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2010.10.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2010] [Revised: 10/09/2010] [Accepted: 10/11/2010] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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Winter SS, Wagner SJ, McMillin JL, Wallace DG. Mammillothalamic tract lesions disrupt dead reckoning in the rat. Eur J Neurosci 2010; 33:371-81. [PMID: 21138488 DOI: 10.1111/j.1460-9568.2010.07504.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Debate surrounds the role of the limbic system structures' contribution to spatial orientation. The results from previous studies have supported a role for the mammillary bodies and their projections to the anterior thalamus in rapid encoding of relationships among environmental cues; however, this work is based on behavioral tasks in which environmental and self-movement cues could not be dissociated. The present study examines the effects of mammillothalamic tract lesions on spatial orientation in the food hoarding paradigm and the water maze. Although the food hoarding paradigm dissociates the use of environmental and self-movement cues, both sources of information are available to guide performance in the water maze. Mammillothalamic tract lesions selectively impaired performance on both tasks. These impairments are interpreted as providing further evidence for the role of limbic system structures in processing self-movement cues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shawn S Winter
- Psychology Department, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL 60115-2892, USA
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48
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T-type calcium channel antagonism produces antipsychotic-like effects and reduces stimulant-induced glutamate release in the nucleus accumbens of rats. Neuropharmacology 2010; 62:1413-21. [PMID: 21110986 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2010.11.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2010] [Revised: 11/08/2010] [Accepted: 11/17/2010] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
T-type calcium channels are important in burst firing and expressed in brain regions implicated in schizophrenia. Therefore, we examined the effects of novel selective T-type calcium channel antagonists in preclinical assays predictive of antipsychotic-like activity. TTA-A2 blocked the psychostimulant effects of amphetamine and MK-801 and decreased conditioned avoidance responding. These effects appeared mechanism based, rather than compound specific, as two structurally dissimilar T-type antagonists also reduced amphetamine-induced psychomotor activity. Importantly, the ability to reduce amphetamine's effects was maintained following 20 days pre-treatment with TTA-A2. To explore the neural substrates mediating the observed behavioral effects, we examined the influence of TTA-A2 on amphetamine-induced c-fos expression as well as basal and stimulant-evoked dopamine and glutamate release in the nucleus accumbens. TTA-A2 decreased amphetamine-induced c-fos expression as well as MK-801-induced, but not basal, glutamate levels in the nucleus accumbens. Basal, amphetamine- and MK-801-induced dopamine efflux was altered. These findings suggest that T-type calcium channel antagonism could represent a novel mechanism for treating schizophrenia.
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Abstract
Inbreeding adversely affects life history traits as well as various other fitness-related traits, but its effect on cognitive traits remains largely unexplored, despite their importance to fitness of many animals under natural conditions. We studied the effects of inbreeding on aversive learning (avoidance of an odour previously associated with mechanical shock) in multiple inbred lines of Drosophila melanogaster derived from a natural population through up to 12 generations of sib mating. Whereas the strongly inbred lines after 12 generations of inbreeding (0.75<F<0.93) consistently showed reduced egg-to-adult viability (on average by 28%), the reduction in learning performance varied among assays (average=18% reduction), being most pronounced for intermediate conditioning intensity. Furthermore, moderately inbred lines (F=0.38) showed no detectable decline in learning performance, but still had reduced egg-to-adult viability, which indicates that overall inbreeding effects on learning are mild. Learning performance varied among strongly inbred lines, indicating the presence of segregating variance for learning in the base population. However, the learning performance of some inbred lines matched that of outbred flies, supporting the dominance rather than the overdominance model of inbreeding depression for this trait. Across the inbred lines, learning performance was positively correlated with the egg-to-adult viability. This positive genetic correlation contradicts a trade-off observed in previous selection experiments and suggests that much of the genetic variation for learning is owing to pleiotropic effects of genes affecting functions related to survival. These results suggest that genetic variation that affects learning specifically (rather than pleiotropically through general physiological condition) is either low or mostly due to alleles with additive (semi-dominant) effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- V Nepoux
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
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Kristofiková Z, Rícný J, Ort M, Rípová D. Aging and lateralization of the rat brain on a biochemical level. Neurochem Res 2010; 35:1138-46. [PMID: 20369289 DOI: 10.1007/s11064-010-0165-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/24/2010] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
It has been suggested that the lateralization of the human brain underlies hemispheric specialization and that it can be observed also on a biochemical level. Biochemical laterality appears to be a basis of volumetric or functional asymmetry but direct relationships among them are still unclear. Moreover, age-related differences between the right and left hemispheres are not well documented in various rat strains. In the current study, biochemical markers sensitive to Alzheimer disease (activities of high-affinity choline uptake and of nitric oxide synthases, expression of 17beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 10) were estimated in both hemispheres of young and old male Wistar/Long Evans rats. Our experiments indicate (1) differences in some biochemical markers between young Wistar and Long Evans rats (the activities of endothelial nitric oxide synthase are higher in Long Evans and those of citrate synthase in Wistar rats), (2) more similar brain asymmetry of healthy human/young Wistar brains when compared to those of young Long Evans, (3) the decrease in asymmetry of the physiologically left/right lateralized biomarker during aging (the activity of the high-affinity choline uptake decreases more markedly in the left side of old Wistar rats) in accordance with the HAROLD model, (4) the age-related shift to reversed left/right asymmetry of the physiologically right/left lateralized biomarker (the activity of inducible nitric oxide synthase increases especially in the left side of old Long Evans rats), and finally (5) age-related differences in physiologically unlateralized biomarkers between Wistar and Long Evans rats (changes in the activities of neural/endothelial nitric oxide synthases or in expression of 17beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 10 are more asymmetrical in old Wistar when compared to rather bilateral alterations of old Long Evans animals). It seems that the physiological lateralization of the human or rat brains on a biochemical level and their age-related alterations are dependent on biomarker type/function. By our opinion, it is difficult, perhaps impossible, to make one simple universal model, at least on a biochemical level. Since lateral analyses are of sufficient sensitivity to reveal subtle links, we recommend using Wistar rather than Long Evans rats in modeling of diseases accompanied by alterations in brain asymmetry.
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