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Sheppard PAS, Oomen CA, Bussey TJ, Saksida LM. The Granular Retrosplenial Cortex Is Necessary in Male Rats for Object-Location Associative Learning and Memory, But Not Spatial Working Memory or Visual Discrimination and Reversal, in the Touchscreen Operant Chamber. eNeuro 2024; 11:ENEURO.0120-24.2024. [PMID: 38844347 PMCID: PMC11208985 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0120-24.2024] [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: 03/18/2024] [Revised: 05/28/2024] [Accepted: 05/30/2024] [Indexed: 06/20/2024] Open
Abstract
The retrosplenial cortex (RSC) is a hub of diverse afferent and efferent projections thought to be involved in associative learning. RSC shows early pathology in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease (AD), which impairs associative learning. To understand and develop therapies for diseases such as AD, animal models are essential. Given the importance of human RSC in object-location associative learning and the success of object-location associative paradigms in human studies and in the clinic, it would be of considerable value to establish a translational model of object-location learning for the rodent. For this reason, we sought to test the role of RSC in object-location learning in male rats using the object-location paired-associates learning (PAL) touchscreen task. First, increased cFos immunoreactivity was observed in granular RSC following PAL training when compared with extended pretraining controls. Following this, RSC lesions following PAL acquisition were used to explore the necessity of the RSC in object-location associative learning and memory and two tasks involving only one modality: trial-unique nonmatching-to-location for spatial working memory and pairwise visual discrimination/reversal. RSC lesions impaired both memory for learned paired-associates and learning of new object-location associations but did not affect performance in either the spatial or visual single-modality tasks. These findings provide evidence that RSC is necessary for object-location learning and less so for learning and memory involving the individual modalities therein.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul A S Sheppard
- Robarts Research Institute, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, ON N6A 5B7, Canada
| | - Charlotte A Oomen
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1TN, United Kingdom
- MRC and Wellcome Trust Behavioural and Clinical Neurosciences Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1TN, United Kingdom
| | - Timothy J Bussey
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1TN, United Kingdom
- MRC and Wellcome Trust Behavioural and Clinical Neurosciences Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1TN, United Kingdom
| | - Lisa M Saksida
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1TN, United Kingdom
- MRC and Wellcome Trust Behavioural and Clinical Neurosciences Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1TN, United Kingdom
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2
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Wang J, Wei J, Pu T, Zeng A, Karthikeyan V, Bechtold B, Vo K, Chen J, Lin TP, Chang AP, Corey E, Puhr M, Klocker H, Culig Z, Bland T, Wu BJ. Cholinergic signaling via muscarinic M1 receptor confers resistance to docetaxel in prostate cancer. Cell Rep Med 2024; 5:101388. [PMID: 38262412 PMCID: PMC10897519 DOI: 10.1016/j.xcrm.2023.101388] [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: 12/29/2022] [Revised: 11/10/2023] [Accepted: 12/22/2023] [Indexed: 01/25/2024]
Abstract
Docetaxel is the most commonly used chemotherapy for advanced prostate cancer (PC), including castration-resistant disease (CRPC), but the eventual development of docetaxel resistance constitutes a major clinical challenge. Here, we demonstrate activation of the cholinergic muscarinic M1 receptor (CHRM1) in CRPC cells upon acquiring resistance to docetaxel, which is manifested in tumor tissues from PC patients post- vs. pre-docetaxel. Genetic and pharmacological inactivation of CHRM1 restores the efficacy of docetaxel in resistant cells. Mechanistically, CHRM1, via its first and third extracellular loops, interacts with the SEMA domain of cMET and forms a heteroreceptor complex with cMET, stimulating a downstream mitogen-activated protein polykinase program to confer docetaxel resistance. Dicyclomine, a clinically available CHRM1-selective antagonist, reverts resistance and restricts the growth of multiple docetaxel-resistant CRPC cell lines and patient-derived xenografts. Our study reveals a CHRM1-dictated mechanism for docetaxel resistance and identifies a CHRM1-targeted combinatorial strategy for overcoming docetaxel resistance in PC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jing Wang
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Washington State University, Spokane, WA, USA
| | - Jing Wei
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Washington State University, Spokane, WA, USA
| | - Tianjie Pu
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Washington State University, Spokane, WA, USA
| | - Alan Zeng
- Undergraduate Programs, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Varsha Karthikeyan
- Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program, College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Washington State University, Spokane, WA, USA; Department of Integrative Biology, School of Life Sciences, College of Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
| | - Baron Bechtold
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Washington State University, Spokane, WA, USA
| | - Karen Vo
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Washington State University, Spokane, WA, USA; Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program, College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Washington State University, Spokane, WA, USA
| | - Jingrui Chen
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Washington State University, Spokane, WA, USA
| | - Tzu-Ping Lin
- Department of Urology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China; Department of Urology, School of Medicine and Shu-Tien Urological Research, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Republic of China
| | - Amy P Chang
- Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Republic of China
| | - Eva Corey
- Department of Urology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Martin Puhr
- Division of Experimental Urology, Department of Urology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Helmut Klocker
- Division of Experimental Urology, Department of Urology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Zoran Culig
- Division of Experimental Urology, Department of Urology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Tyler Bland
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Washington State University, Spokane, WA, USA; WWAMI Medical Education Program, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID, USA.
| | - Boyang Jason Wu
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Washington State University, Spokane, WA, USA.
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Do J, Jung MW, Lee D. Automating licking bias correction in a two-choice delayed match-to-sample task to accelerate learning. Sci Rep 2023; 13:22768. [PMID: 38123637 PMCID: PMC10733387 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-49862-z] [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: 08/03/2023] [Accepted: 12/12/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Animals often display choice bias, or a preference for one option over the others, which can significantly impede learning new tasks. Delayed match-to-sample (DMS) tasks with two-alternative choices of lickports on the left and right have been widely used to study sensory processing, working memory, and associative memory in head-fixed animals. However, extensive training time, primarily due to the animals' biased licking responses, limits their practical utility. Here, we present the implementation of an automated side bias correction system in an olfactory DMS task, where the lickport positions and the ratio of left- and right-rewarded trials are dynamically adjusted to counterbalance mouse's biased licking responses during training. The correction algorithm moves the preferred lickport farther away from the mouse's mouth and the non-preferred lickport closer, while also increasing the proportion of non-preferred side trials when biased licking occurs. We found that adjusting lickport distances and the proportions of left- versus right-rewarded trials effectively reduces the mouse's side bias. Further analyses reveal that these adjustments also correlate with subsequent improvements in behavioral performance. Our findings suggest that the automated side bias correction system is a valuable tool for enhancing the applicability of behavioral tasks involving two-alternative lickport choices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jongrok Do
- Department of Biological Sciences, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea
- Center for Cognition and Sociality, Institute for Basic Science, Daejeon, 34126, Republic of Korea
| | - Min Whan Jung
- Department of Biological Sciences, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea.
- Center for Synaptic Brain Dysfunctions, Institute for Basic Science, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea.
| | - Doyun Lee
- Center for Cognition and Sociality, Institute for Basic Science, Daejeon, 34126, Republic of Korea.
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4
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Memar S, Jiang E, Prado VF, Saksida LM, Bussey TJ, Prado MAM. Open science and data sharing in cognitive neuroscience with MouseBytes and MouseBytes. Sci Data 2023; 10:210. [PMID: 37059739 PMCID: PMC10104860 DOI: 10.1038/s41597-023-02106-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2022] [Accepted: 03/27/2023] [Indexed: 04/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Open access to rodent cognitive data has lagged behind the rapid generation of large open-access datasets in other areas of neuroscience, such as neuroimaging and genomics. One contributing factor has been the absence of uniform standardization in experiments and data output, an issue that has particularly plagued studies in animal models. Touchscreen-automated cognitive testing of animal models allows standardized outputs that are compatible with open-access sharing. Touchscreen datasets can be combined with different neuro-technologies such as fiber photometry, miniscopes, optogenetics, and MRI to evaluate the relationship between neural activity and behavior. Here we describe a platform that allows deposition of these data into an open-access repository. This platform, called MouseBytes, is a web-based repository that enables researchers to store, share, visualize, and analyze cognitive data. Here we present the architecture, structure, and the essential infrastructure behind MouseBytes. In addition, we describe MouseBytes+, a database that allows data from complementary neuro-technologies such as imaging and photometry to be easily integrated with behavioral data in MouseBytes to support multi-modal behavioral analysis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara Memar
- BrainsCAN, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, N6A 3K7, Canada.
- Robarts Research Institute, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, N6A 3K7, Canada.
| | - Eric Jiang
- BrainsCAN, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, N6A 3K7, Canada
- Robarts Research Institute, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, N6A 3K7, Canada
| | - Vania F Prado
- BrainsCAN, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, N6A 3K7, Canada
- Robarts Research Institute, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, N6A 3K7, Canada
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, N6A 3K7, Canada
- Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, N6A 3K7, Canada
| | - Lisa M Saksida
- BrainsCAN, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, N6A 3K7, Canada
- Robarts Research Institute, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, N6A 3K7, Canada
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, N6A 3K7, Canada
| | - Timothy J Bussey
- BrainsCAN, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, N6A 3K7, Canada.
- Robarts Research Institute, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, N6A 3K7, Canada.
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, N6A 3K7, Canada.
| | - Marco A M Prado
- BrainsCAN, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, N6A 3K7, Canada.
- Robarts Research Institute, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, N6A 3K7, Canada.
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, N6A 3K7, Canada.
- Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, N6A 3K7, Canada.
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5
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Cotter KM, Bancroft GL, Haas HA, Shi R, Clarkson AN, Croxall ME, Stowe AM, Yun S, Eisch AJ. Use of an Automated Mouse Touchscreen Platform for Quantification of Cognitive Deficits After Central Nervous System Injury. Methods Mol Biol 2023; 2616:279-326. [PMID: 36715942 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-2926-0_21] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
Abstract
Analyzing cognitive performance is an important aspect of assessing physiological deficits after stroke or other central nervous system (CNS) injuries in both humans and in basic science animal models. Cognitive testing on an automated touchscreen operant platform began in humans but is now increasingly popular in preclinical studies as it enables testing in many cognitive domains in a highly reproducible way while minimizing stress to the laboratory animal. Here, we describe the step-by-step setup and application of four operant touchscreen tests used on adult mice. In brief, mice are trained to touch a graphical image on a lit screen and initiate subsequent trials for a reward. Following initial training, mice can be tested on tasks that probe performance in many cognitive domains and thus infer the integrity of brain circuits and regions. There are already many outstanding published protocols on touchscreen cognitive testing. This chapter is designed to add to the literature in two specific ways. First, this chapter provides in a single location practical, behind-the-scenes tips for setup and testing of mice in four touchscreen tasks that are useful to assess in CNS injury models: Paired Associates Learning (PAL), a task of episodic, associative (object-location) memory; Location Discrimination Reversal (LDR), a test for mnemonic discrimination (also called behavioral pattern separation) and cognitive flexibility; Autoshaping (AUTO), a test of Pavlovian or classical conditioning; and Extinction (EXT), tasks of stimulus-response and response inhibition, respectively. Second, this chapter summarizes issues to consider when performing touchscreen tests in mouse models of CNS injury. Quantifying gross and fine aspects of cognitive function is essential to improved treatment for brain dysfunction after stroke or CNS injury as well as other brain diseases, and touchscreen testing provides a sensitive, reliable, and robust way to achieve this.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katherine M Cotter
- Department of Neurology, Department of Neuroscience, The University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA
| | | | | | - Raymon Shi
- University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Andrew N Clarkson
- Department of Anatomy, Brain Health Research Centre and Brain Research New Zealand, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | | | - Ann M Stowe
- Department of Neurology, Department of Neuroscience, The University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA
| | - Sanghee Yun
- Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute, Philadelphia, PA, USA. .,Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
| | - Amelia J Eisch
- Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute, Philadelphia, PA, USA. .,Department of Neuroscience, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
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6
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Gaynor LS, Ravi M, Zequeira S, Hampton AM, Pyon WS, Smith S, Colon-Perez LM, Pompilus M, Bizon JL, Maurer AP, Febo M, Burke SN. Touchscreen-Based Cognitive Training Alters Functional Connectivity Patterns in Aged But Not Young Male Rats. eNeuro 2023; 10:ENEURO.0329-22.2023. [PMID: 36754628 PMCID: PMC9961373 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0329-22.2023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2022] [Revised: 12/31/2022] [Accepted: 01/26/2023] [Indexed: 02/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Age-related cognitive decline is related to cellular and systems-level disruptions across multiple brain regions. Because age-related cellular changes within different structures do not show the same patterns of dysfunction, interventions aimed at optimizing function of large-scale brain networks may show greater efficacy at improving cognitive outcomes in older adults than traditional pharmacotherapies. The current study aimed to leverage a preclinical rat model of aging to determine whether cognitive training in young and aged male rats with a computerized paired-associates learning (PAL) task resulted in changes in global resting-state functional connectivity. Moreover, seed-based functional connectivity was used to examine resting state connectivity of cortical areas involved in object-location associative memory and vulnerable in old age, namely the medial temporal lobe (MTL; hippocampal cortex and perirhinal cortex), retrosplenial cortex (RSC), and frontal cortical areas (prelimbic and infralimbic cortices). There was an age-related increase in global functional connectivity between baseline and post-training resting state scans in aged, cognitively trained rats. This change in connectivity following cognitive training was not observed in young animals, or rats that traversed a track for a reward between scan sessions. Relatedly, an increase in connectivity between perirhinal and prelimbic cortices, as well as reduced reciprocal connectivity within the RSC, was found in aged rats that underwent cognitive training, but not the other groups. Subnetwork activation was associated with task performance across age groups. Greater global functional connectivity and connectivity between task-relevant brain regions may elucidate compensatory mechanisms that can be engaged by cognitive training.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leslie S Gaynor
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158
| | - Meena Ravi
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610
- McKnight Brain Institute and College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610
| | - Sabrina Zequeira
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610
- McKnight Brain Institute and College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610
| | - Andreina M Hampton
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610
| | - Wonn S Pyon
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610
- McKnight Brain Institute and College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610
| | - Samantha Smith
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610
- McKnight Brain Institute and College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610
| | - Luis M Colon-Perez
- Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, TX 76107
| | - Marjory Pompilus
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610
| | - Jennifer L Bizon
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610
- McKnight Brain Institute and College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610
| | - Andrew P Maurer
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610
- McKnight Brain Institute and College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610
| | - Marcelo Febo
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610
- McKnight Brain Institute and College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610
| | - Sara N Burke
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610
- McKnight Brain Institute and College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610
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7
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Hussein A, Tielemans A, Baxter MG, Benson DL, Huntley GW. Cognitive deficits and altered cholinergic innervation in young adult male mice carrying a Parkinson's disease Lrrk2 G2019S knockin mutation. Exp Neurol 2022; 355:114145. [PMID: 35732218 PMCID: PMC9338764 DOI: 10.1016/j.expneurol.2022.114145] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2022] [Revised: 05/24/2022] [Accepted: 06/14/2022] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Abstract
Impaired executive function is a common and debilitating non-motor symptom of idiopathic and hereditary Parkinson's disease (PD), but there is little understanding of the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms and circuits. The G2019S mutation in the kinase domain of leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) greatly increases risk for late-onset PD, and non-manifesting LRRK2G2019S carriers can also exhibit early and significant cognitive impairment. Here, we subjected young adult male mice carrying a Lrrk2G2019S knockin mutation to touchscreen-based operant tasks that measure attention, goal-directed learning and cognitive flexibility, all of which rely on frontal-striatal connectivity and are strongly modulated by cholinergic innervation. In a visuospatial attention task, mutant mice exhibited significantly more omissions and longer response latencies than controls that could not be attributed to deficits in motivation, visual sensory perception per se or locomotion, thereby suggesting impairments in divided attention and/or action-selection as well as generally slower information processing speed. Pretreating mice with the acetylcholinesterase inhibitor donepezil normalized both higher omission rates and longer response latencies in the mutants, but did not affect any performance metric in controls. Strikingly, cholinergic fiber density in cortical areas PL/IL and DMS (dorsomedial striatum) was significantly sparser in mutants than in controls, while further behavioral interrogation of the mutants revealed significant impairments in action-outcome associations but preserved cognitive flexibility. These data suggest that the Lrrk2G2019S mutation negatively impacts cholinergic innervation anatomically and functionally by young adulthood, impairing corticostriatal network function in ways that may contribute to early PD-associated executive function deficits.
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8
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Smith SM, Zequeira S, Ravi M, Johnson SA, Hampton AM, Ross AM, Pyon W, Maurer AP, Bizon JL, Burke SN. Age-related impairments on the touchscreen paired associates learning (PAL) task in male rats. Neurobiol Aging 2022; 109:176-191. [PMID: 34749169 PMCID: PMC9351724 DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2021.09.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2021] [Revised: 09/25/2021] [Accepted: 09/27/2021] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
Discovery research in rodent models of cognitive aging is instrumental for identifying mechanisms of behavioral decline in old age that can be therapeutically targeted. Clinically relevant behavioral paradigms, however, have not been widely employed in aged rats. The current study aimed to bridge this translational gap by testing cognition in a cross-species touchscreen-based platform known as paired-associates learning (PAL) and then utilizing a trial-by-trial behavioral analysis approach. This study found age-related deficits in PAL task acquisition in male rats. Furthermore, trial-by-trial analyses and testing rats on a novel interference version of PAL suggested that age-related impairments were not due to differences in vulnerability to an irrelevant distractor, motivation, or to forgetting. Rather, impairment appeared to arise from vulnerability to accumulating, proactive interference, with aged animals performing worse than younger rats in later trial blocks within a single testing session. The detailed behavioral analysis employed in this study provides new insights into the etiology of age-associated cognitive deficits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samantha M Smith
- Department of Neuroscience, Center for Cognitive Aging and Memory, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL, USA; Graduate Program in Biomedical Sciences, Neuroscience Concentration, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL, USA
| | - Sabrina Zequeira
- Department of Neuroscience, Center for Cognitive Aging and Memory, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL, USA; Graduate Program in Biomedical Sciences, Neuroscience Concentration, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL, USA
| | - Meena Ravi
- Department of Neuroscience, Center for Cognitive Aging and Memory, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL, USA
| | - Sarah A Johnson
- Department of Neuroscience and Center for Neurodegenerative Disease and Therapeutics, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Andriena M Hampton
- Department of Neuroscience, Center for Cognitive Aging and Memory, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL, USA
| | - Aleyna M Ross
- Department of Neuroscience, Center for Cognitive Aging and Memory, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL, USA; Graduate Program in Biomedical Sciences, Neuroscience Concentration, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL, USA
| | - Wonn Pyon
- Department of Neuroscience, Center for Cognitive Aging and Memory, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL, USA; Graduate Program in Biomedical Sciences, Neuroscience Concentration, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL, USA
| | - Andrew P Maurer
- Department of Neuroscience, Center for Cognitive Aging and Memory, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL, USA
| | - Jennifer L Bizon
- Department of Neuroscience, Center for Cognitive Aging and Memory, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL, USA
| | - Sara N Burke
- Department of Neuroscience, Center for Cognitive Aging and Memory, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL, USA; Institute on Aging, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
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9
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Dubisova J, Burianova JS, Svobodova L, Makovicky P, Martinez-Varea N, Cimpean A, Fawcett JW, Kwok JCF, Kubinova S. Oral treatment of 4-methylumbelliferone reduced perineuronal nets and improved recognition memory in mice. Brain Res Bull 2022; 181:144-156. [PMID: 35066096 PMCID: PMC8867078 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainresbull.2022.01.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2021] [Revised: 01/15/2022] [Accepted: 01/19/2022] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Hyaluronan (HA) is a core constituent of perineuronal nets (PNNs) that surround subpopulations of neurones. The PNNs control synaptic stabilization in both the developing and adult central nervous system, and disruption of PNNs has shown to reactivate neuroplasticity. We investigated the possibility of memory prolongation by attenuating PNN formation using 4-methylumbelliferone (4-MU), an inhibitor of HA synthesis. Adult C57BL/6 mice were fed with chow containing 5% (w/w) 4-MU for 6 months, at a dose ~6.7 mg/g/day. The oral administration of 4-MU reduced the glycosaminoglycan level in the brain to 72% and the spinal cord to 50% when compared to the controls. Spontaneous object recognition test (SOR) performed at 2, 3, 6 and 7 months showed a significant increase in SOR score in the 6-months treatment group 24 h after object presentation. The effect however did not persist in the washout group (1-month post treatment). Immunohistochemistry confirmed a reduction of PNNs, with shorter and less arborization of aggrecan staining around dendrites in hippocampus after 6 months of 4-MU treatment. Histopathological examination revealed mild atrophy in articular cartilage but it did not affect the motor performance as demonstrated in rotarod test. In conclusion, systemic oral administration of 4-MU for 6 months reduced PNN formation around neurons and enhanced memory retention in mice. However, the memory enhancement was not sustained despite the reduction of PNNs, possibly due to the lack of memory enhancement training during the washout period. Our results suggest that 4-MU treatment might offer a strategy for PNN modulation in memory enhancement. Removal of perineuronal nets (PNNs) reactivates neuroplasticity. Oral administration of 4-methylumbelliferone (4-MU) reduces PNNs. PNN reduction leads to enhancement in recognition memory in mice. The memory effect is not sustained likely due to a lack of memory training.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jana Dubisova
- Institute of Experimental Medicine of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Videnska 1083, 142 20 Prague, Czech Republic; 2nd Medical Faculty, Charles University, V Úvalu 84, 150 06 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Jana Svobodova Burianova
- Institute of Experimental Medicine of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Videnska 1083, 142 20 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Lucie Svobodova
- Institute of Experimental Medicine of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Videnska 1083, 142 20 Prague, Czech Republic; Institute of Physiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Videnska 1083, 142 20 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Pavol Makovicky
- Department of Biology, Faculty of Education, J. Selye University, Slovakia
| | - Noelia Martinez-Varea
- Institute of Experimental Medicine of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Videnska 1083, 142 20 Prague, Czech Republic; 2nd Medical Faculty, Charles University, V Úvalu 84, 150 06 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Anda Cimpean
- Institute of Experimental Medicine of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Videnska 1083, 142 20 Prague, Czech Republic; 2nd Medical Faculty, Charles University, V Úvalu 84, 150 06 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - James W Fawcett
- Institute of Experimental Medicine of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Videnska 1083, 142 20 Prague, Czech Republic; John Van Geest Centre for Brain Repair, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Jessica C F Kwok
- Institute of Experimental Medicine of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Videnska 1083, 142 20 Prague, Czech Republic; School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, United Kingdom.
| | - Sarka Kubinova
- Institute of Experimental Medicine of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Videnska 1083, 142 20 Prague, Czech Republic; Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic.
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10
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Hassani SA, Lendor S, Neumann A, Sinha Roy K, Banaie Boroujeni K, Hoffman KL, Pawliszyn J, Womelsdorf T. Dose-Dependent Dissociation of Pro-cognitive Effects of Donepezil on Attention and Cognitive Flexibility in Rhesus Monkeys. BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY GLOBAL OPEN SCIENCE 2021; 3:68-77. [PMID: 36712561 PMCID: PMC9874073 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsgos.2021.11.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2021] [Revised: 11/16/2021] [Accepted: 11/22/2021] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Donepezil exerts pro-cognitive effects by nonselectively enhancing acetylcholine (ACh) across multiple brain systems. Two brain systems that mediate pro-cognitive effects of attentional control and cognitive flexibility are the prefrontal cortex and the anterior striatum, which have different pharmacokinetic sensitivities to ACh modulation. We speculated that these area-specific ACh profiles lead to distinct optimal dose ranges for donepezil to enhance the cognitive domains of attention and flexible learning. Methods To test for dose-specific effects of donepezil on different cognitive domains, we devised a multitask paradigm for nonhuman primates that assessed attention and cognitive flexibility. The nonhuman primates received either vehicle or variable doses of donepezil before task performance. We measured intracerebral donepezil and its strength in preventing the breakdown of ACh within the prefrontal cortex and anterior striatum using solid phase microextraction neurochemistry. Results The highest administered donepezil dose improved attention and made the subjects more robust against distractor interference, but it did not improve flexible learning. In contrast, only a lower dose range of donepezil improved flexible learning and reduced perseveration, but without distractor-dependent attentional improvement. Neurochemical measurements confirmed a dose-dependent increase of extracellular donepezil and decreases in choline within the prefrontal cortex and the striatum. Conclusions The donepezil dose for maximally improving attention differed from the dose range that enhanced cognitive flexibility despite the availability of the drug in two major brain systems supporting these functions. These results suggest that in our cohort of adult monkeys, donepezil traded improvements in attention for improvements in cognitive flexibility at a given dose range.
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Affiliation(s)
- Seyed A. Hassani
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee
| | - Sofia Lendor
- Department of Chemistry, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
| | - Adam Neumann
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee
| | - Kanchan Sinha Roy
- Department of Chemistry, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
| | | | - Kari L. Hoffman
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee
| | - Janusz Pawliszyn
- Department of Chemistry, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada,Janusz Pawliszyn, Ph.D.
| | - Thilo Womelsdorf
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee,Department of Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee,Address correspondence to Thilo Womelsdorf, Ph.D.
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11
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Schmidtke D. Age affects procedural paired-associates learning in the grey mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus). Sci Rep 2021; 11:1252. [PMID: 33442034 PMCID: PMC7806666 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-80960-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2020] [Accepted: 12/29/2020] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
The ability to associate memorized objects with their location in space gradually declines during normal aging and can drastically be affected by neurodegenerative diseases. This study investigates object-location paired-associates learning (PAL) in the grey mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus), a nonhuman primate model of brain aging. Touchscreen-based testing of 6 young adults (1–5 years) and 6 old adults (> 7 years) in the procedural rodent dPAL-task revealed significant age-related performance decline, evident in group differences in the percentage of correct decision during learning and the number of sessions needed to reach a predefined criterion. Response pattern analyses suggest decreased susceptibility to relative stimulus-position biases in young animals, facilitating PAL. Additional data from a subset of “overtrained” individuals (n = 7) and challenge sessions using a modified protocol (sPAL) further suggest that learning criteria routinely used in animal studies on PAL can underestimate the endpoint at which a stable performance is reached and that more conservative criteria are needed to improve construct validity of the task. To conclude, this is the first report of an age effect on dPAL and corroborates the role of mouse lemurs as valuable natural nonhuman primate models in aging research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Schmidtke
- Institute of Zoology, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Hannover, Germany.
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12
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Krakenberg V, Wewer M, Palme R, Kaiser S, Sachser N, Richter SH. Regular touchscreen training affects faecal corticosterone metabolites and anxiety-like behaviour in mice. Behav Brain Res 2020; 401:113080. [PMID: 33358914 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2020.113080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2020] [Revised: 11/30/2020] [Accepted: 12/14/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Automated touchscreen techniques find increasing application for the assessment of cognitive function in rodents. However, hardly anything is known about the potential impact of touchscreen-based training and testing procedures on the animals under investigation. Addressing this question appears particularly important in light of the long and intensive training phases required for most of the operant tasks. Against this background, we here investigated the influence of regular touchscreen training on hormones and behaviour of mice. Faecal corticosterone metabolites (FCMs), reflecting corticosterone levels around the time of treatment, were significantly increased in touchscreen-trained mice, even one week after the training phase was already terminated. Such an effect was not detected on baseline FCMs. Thus, regular touchscreen training can be assumed to cause long-term effects on hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis activity. Furthermore, anxiety-like behaviour was increased in touchscreen-trained mice two weeks after the end of the training phase. Traditionally, this would be interpreted as a negative influence of the training procedure on the animals' affective state. Yet, we also provide two alternative explanations, taking the possibility into account that touchscreen training might have enriching properties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Viktoria Krakenberg
- Department of Behavioural Biology, University of Münster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Münster, Germany.
| | - Maximilian Wewer
- Department of Behavioural Biology, University of Münster, Germany
| | - Rupert Palme
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
| | - Sylvia Kaiser
- Department of Behavioural Biology, University of Münster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Münster, Germany
| | - Norbert Sachser
- Department of Behavioural Biology, University of Münster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Münster, Germany
| | - S Helene Richter
- Department of Behavioural Biology, University of Münster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Münster, Germany
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13
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Hatzipantelis C, Langiu M, Vandekolk TH, Pierce TL, Nithianantharajah J, Stewart GD, Langmead CJ. Translation-Focused Approaches to GPCR Drug Discovery for Cognitive Impairments Associated with Schizophrenia. ACS Pharmacol Transl Sci 2020; 3:1042-1062. [PMID: 33344888 PMCID: PMC7737210 DOI: 10.1021/acsptsci.0c00117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2020] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
There are no effective therapeutics for cognitive impairments associated with schizophrenia (CIAS), which includes deficits in executive functions (working memory and cognitive flexibility) and episodic memory. Compounds that have entered clinical trials are inadequate in terms of efficacy and/or tolerability, highlighting a clear translational bottleneck and a need for a cohesive preclinical drug development strategy. In this review we propose hippocampal-prefrontal-cortical (HPC-PFC) circuitry underlying CIAS-relevant cognitive processes across mammalian species as a target source to guide the translation-focused discovery and development of novel, procognitive agents. We highlight several G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) enriched within HPC-PFC circuitry as therapeutic targets of interest, including noncanonical approaches (biased agonism and allosteric modulation) to conventional clinical targets, such as dopamine and muscarinic acetylcholine receptors, along with prospective novel targets, including the orphan receptors GPR52 and GPR139. We also describe the translational limitations of popular preclinical cognition tests and suggest touchscreen-based assays that probe cognitive functions reliant on HPC-PFC circuitry and reflect tests used in the clinic, as tests of greater translational relevance. Combining pharmacological and behavioral testing strategies based in HPC-PFC circuit function creates a cohesive, translation-focused approach to preclinical drug development that may improve the translational bottleneck currently hindering the development of treatments for CIAS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cassandra
J. Hatzipantelis
- Drug
Discovery Biology, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia
| | - Monica Langiu
- Drug
Discovery Biology, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia
| | - Teresa H. Vandekolk
- Drug
Discovery Biology, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia
| | - Tracie L. Pierce
- Drug
Discovery Biology, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia
| | - Jess Nithianantharajah
- Florey
Institute of Neuroscience
and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia
| | - Gregory D. Stewart
- Drug
Discovery Biology, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia
| | - Christopher J. Langmead
- Drug
Discovery Biology, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia
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14
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Chow WZ, Ong LK, Kluge MG, Gyawali P, Walker FR, Nilsson M. Similar cognitive deficits in mice and humans in the chronic phase post-stroke identified using the touchscreen-based paired-associate learning task. Sci Rep 2020; 10:19545. [PMID: 33177588 PMCID: PMC7658221 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-76560-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2019] [Accepted: 10/22/2020] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
For many chronic stroke survivors, persisting cognitive dysfunction leads to significantly reduced quality of life. Translation of promising therapeutic strategies aimed at improving cognitive function is hampered by existing, disparate cognitive assessments in animals and humans. In this study, we assessed post-stroke cognitive function using a comparable touchscreen-based paired-associate learning task in a cross-sectional population of chronic stroke survivors (≥ 5 months post-stroke, n = 70), age-matched controls (n = 70), and in mice generated from a C57BL/6 mouse photothrombotic stroke model (at six months post-stroke). Cognitive performance of stroke survivors was analysed using linear regression adjusting for age, gender, diabetes, systolic blood pressure and waist circumference. Stroke survivors made significantly fewer correct choices across all tasks compared with controls. Similar cognitive impairment was observed in the mice post-stroke with fewer correct choices compared to shams. These results highlight the feasibility and potential value of analogous modelling of clinically meaningful cognitive impairments in chronic stroke survivors and in mice in chronic phase after stroke. Implementation of validated, parallel cross-species test platforms for cognitive assessment offer the potential of delivering a more useful framework for evaluating therapies aimed at improving long-term cognitive function post-stroke.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wei Zhen Chow
- School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy and Priority Research Centre for Stroke and Brain Injury, University of Newcastle, University Drive, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia
- Hunter Medical Research Institute, New Lambton, Heights, NSW, Australia
- NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence Stroke Rehabilitation and Brain Recovery, Heidelberg, VIC, Australia
| | - Lin Kooi Ong
- School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy and Priority Research Centre for Stroke and Brain Injury, University of Newcastle, University Drive, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia
- Hunter Medical Research Institute, New Lambton, Heights, NSW, Australia
- NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence Stroke Rehabilitation and Brain Recovery, Heidelberg, VIC, Australia
- School of Pharmacy, Monash University Malaysia, Bandar Sunway, Selangor, Malaysia
| | - Murielle G Kluge
- School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy and Priority Research Centre for Stroke and Brain Injury, University of Newcastle, University Drive, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia
- Hunter Medical Research Institute, New Lambton, Heights, NSW, Australia
| | - Prajwal Gyawali
- School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy and Priority Research Centre for Stroke and Brain Injury, University of Newcastle, University Drive, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia
- Hunter Medical Research Institute, New Lambton, Heights, NSW, Australia
- School of Health and Wellbeing, Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences, University of Southern Queensland, Queensland, Australia
| | - Frederick R Walker
- School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy and Priority Research Centre for Stroke and Brain Injury, University of Newcastle, University Drive, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia.
- Hunter Medical Research Institute, New Lambton, Heights, NSW, Australia.
- NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence Stroke Rehabilitation and Brain Recovery, Heidelberg, VIC, Australia.
- Centre for Rehab Innovations, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia.
| | - Michael Nilsson
- School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy and Priority Research Centre for Stroke and Brain Injury, University of Newcastle, University Drive, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia.
- Hunter Medical Research Institute, New Lambton, Heights, NSW, Australia.
- NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence Stroke Rehabilitation and Brain Recovery, Heidelberg, VIC, Australia.
- Centre for Rehab Innovations, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia.
- LKC School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Novena Campus, Singapore.
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15
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Sullivan JA, Dumont JR, Memar S, Skirzewski M, Wan J, Mofrad MH, Ansari HZ, Li Y, Muller L, Prado VF, Prado MAM, Saksida LM, Bussey TJ. New frontiers in translational research: Touchscreens, open science, and the mouse translational research accelerator platform. GENES BRAIN AND BEHAVIOR 2020; 20:e12705. [PMID: 33009724 DOI: 10.1111/gbb.12705] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2020] [Revised: 09/03/2020] [Accepted: 09/29/2020] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Many neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases and other brain disorders are accompanied by impairments in high-level cognitive functions including memory, attention, motivation, and decision-making. Despite several decades of extensive research, neuroscience is little closer to discovering new treatments. Key impediments include the absence of validated and robust cognitive assessment tools for facilitating translation from animal models to humans. In this review, we describe a state-of-the-art platform poised to overcome these impediments and improve the success of translational research, the Mouse Translational Research Accelerator Platform (MouseTRAP), which is centered on the touchscreen cognitive testing system for rodents. It integrates touchscreen-based tests of high-level cognitive assessment with state-of-the art neurotechnology to record and manipulate molecular and circuit level activity in vivo in animal models during human-relevant cognitive performance. The platform also is integrated with two Open Science platforms designed to facilitate knowledge and data-sharing practices within the rodent touchscreen community, touchscreencognition.org and mousebytes.ca. Touchscreencognition.org includes the Wall, showcasing touchscreen news and publications, the Forum, for community discussion, and Training, which includes courses, videos, SOPs, and symposia. To get started, interested researchers simply create user accounts. We describe the origins of the touchscreen testing system, the novel lines of research it has facilitated, and its increasingly widespread use in translational research, which is attributable in part to knowledge-sharing efforts over the past decade. We then identify the unique features of MouseTRAP that stand to potentially revolutionize translational research, and describe new initiatives to partner with similar platforms such as McGill's M3 platform (m3platform.org).
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacqueline A Sullivan
- Department of Philosophy, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada.,Rotman Institute of Philosophy, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada.,Brain and Mind Institute, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada
| | - Julie R Dumont
- BrainsCAN, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada.,Robarts Research Institute, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada
| | - Sara Memar
- Robarts Research Institute, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada
| | - Miguel Skirzewski
- BrainsCAN, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada.,Robarts Research Institute, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada
| | - Jinxia Wan
- Division of Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Membrane Biology, Peking University School of Life Sciences, Beijing, China.,PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, China
| | - Maryam H Mofrad
- Brain and Mind Institute, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada.,Department of Applied Mathematics, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada
| | | | - Yulong Li
- Division of Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Membrane Biology, Peking University School of Life Sciences, Beijing, China.,PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, China.,Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Lyle Muller
- Brain and Mind Institute, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada.,Department of Applied Mathematics, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada
| | - Vania F Prado
- Robarts Research Institute, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada.,Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada.,Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada
| | - Marco A M Prado
- Robarts Research Institute, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada.,Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada.,Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada
| | - Lisa M Saksida
- Brain and Mind Institute, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada.,BrainsCAN, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada.,Robarts Research Institute, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada.,Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada
| | - Timothy J Bussey
- Brain and Mind Institute, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada.,BrainsCAN, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada.,Robarts Research Institute, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada.,Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada.,Department of Psychiatry, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada
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16
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Sandini TM, Marks WN, Tahir NB, Song Y, Greba Q, Howland JG. NMDA Receptors in Visual and Olfactory Sensory Integration in Male Long Evans Rats: A Role for the Orbitofrontal Cortex. Neuroscience 2020; 440:230-238. [PMID: 32497759 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2020.05.041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2020] [Revised: 05/20/2020] [Accepted: 05/23/2020] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Sensory integration (SI) is a cognitive process whereby the brain uses unimodal or multimodal sensory features to create a comprehensive representation of the environment. Integration of sensory input is necessary to achieve a coherent perception of the environment, and to subsequently plan and coordinate action. The neural mechanisms mediating SI are poorly understood; however, recent studies suggest that the regulation of SI involves N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors (NMDARs) in orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). Thus, we tested this hypothesis directly in two experiments using object oddity tests that require SI for visual and olfactory stimuli. First, we blocked NMDARs with acute CPP treatment (i.p., 10 mg/kg) and tested rats in unimodal visual and olfactory SI tests, and respective control unimodal oddity tests that do not require SI. Second, we used intra-OFC infusions of AP5 (30 mM) to examine the role of NMDARs in the OFC in the oddity tests requiring SI. Systemic blockade of NMDARs impaired performance on the visual tests regardless of whether SI was required for determining oddity. In the olfactory tests, systemic treatment with CPP impaired the test requiring SI while sparing olfactory oddity, demonstrating a selective impairment in the olfactory SI. Intra-OFC blockade of NMDARs impaired olfactory SI, without effect on visual SI, demonstrating that intra-OFC NMDARs are essential for olfactory, but not visual SI. The present results are discussed in the context of the function of the OFC and its associated circuitry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thaísa M Sandini
- Department of Anatomy, Physiology, and Pharmacology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5E5, Canada
| | - Wendie N Marks
- Department of Anatomy, Physiology, and Pharmacology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5E5, Canada
| | - Nimra B Tahir
- Department of Anatomy, Physiology, and Pharmacology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5E5, Canada
| | - Yuanyi Song
- Department of Anatomy, Physiology, and Pharmacology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5E5, Canada
| | - Quentin Greba
- Department of Anatomy, Physiology, and Pharmacology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5E5, Canada
| | - John G Howland
- Department of Anatomy, Physiology, and Pharmacology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5E5, Canada.
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17
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Beraldo FH, Palmer D, Memar S, Wasserman DI, Lee WJV, Liang S, Creighton SD, Kolisnyk B, Cowan MF, Mels J, Masood TS, Fodor C, Al-Onaizi MA, Bartha R, Gee T, Saksida LM, Bussey TJ, Strother SS, Prado VF, Winters BD, Prado MA. MouseBytes, an open-access high-throughput pipeline and database for rodent touchscreen-based cognitive assessment. eLife 2019; 8:49630. [PMID: 31825307 PMCID: PMC6934379 DOI: 10.7554/elife.49630] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2019] [Accepted: 12/11/2019] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Open Science has changed research by making data accessible and shareable, contributing to replicability to accelerate and disseminate knowledge. However, for rodent cognitive studies the availability of tools to share and disseminate data is scarce. Automated touchscreen-based tests enable systematic cognitive assessment with easily standardised outputs that can facilitate data dissemination. Here we present an integration of touchscreen cognitive testing with an open-access database public repository (mousebytes.ca), as well as a Web platform for knowledge dissemination (https://touchscreencognition.org). We complement these resources with the largest dataset of age-dependent high-level cognitive assessment of mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease, expanding knowledge of affected cognitive domains from male and female mice of three strains. We envision that these new platforms will enhance sharing of protocols, data availability and transparency, allowing meta-analysis and reuse of mouse cognitive data to increase the replicability/reproducibility of datasets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Flavio H Beraldo
- Robarts Research Institute, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada.,Graduate Program in Neuroscience, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada.,Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada
| | - Daniel Palmer
- Robarts Research Institute, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada.,Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Program, University of Guelph, Guelph, Canada
| | - Sara Memar
- Robarts Research Institute, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada
| | - David I Wasserman
- Robarts Research Institute, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada.,Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Program, University of Guelph, Guelph, Canada
| | - Wai-Jane V Lee
- Robarts Research Institute, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada.,Graduate Program in Neuroscience, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada
| | - Shuai Liang
- Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Hospital, Toronto, Canada
| | - Samantha D Creighton
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Program, University of Guelph, Guelph, Canada
| | - Benjamin Kolisnyk
- Robarts Research Institute, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada.,Graduate Program in Neuroscience, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada
| | - Matthew F Cowan
- Robarts Research Institute, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada
| | - Justin Mels
- Robarts Research Institute, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada.,Graduate Program in Neuroscience, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada
| | - Talal S Masood
- Robarts Research Institute, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada.,Graduate Program in Neuroscience, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada
| | - Chris Fodor
- Robarts Research Institute, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada
| | - Mohammed A Al-Onaizi
- Robarts Research Institute, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada.,Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada
| | - Robert Bartha
- Robarts Research Institute, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada.,Department of Medical Biophysics, The University of Western Ontario, London, Canada
| | - Tom Gee
- Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Hospital, Toronto, Canada
| | - Lisa M Saksida
- Robarts Research Institute, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada.,Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada.,Brain and Mind Institute, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada
| | - Timothy J Bussey
- Robarts Research Institute, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada.,Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada.,Brain and Mind Institute, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada
| | - Stephen S Strother
- Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Hospital, Toronto, Canada.,Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - Vania F Prado
- Robarts Research Institute, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada.,Graduate Program in Neuroscience, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada.,Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada.,Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada
| | - Boyer D Winters
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Program, University of Guelph, Guelph, Canada
| | - Marco Am Prado
- Robarts Research Institute, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada.,Graduate Program in Neuroscience, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada.,Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada.,Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada
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18
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Abstract
The development of a touchscreen platform for rodent testing has allowed new methods for cognitive testing that have been back-translated from clinical assessment tools to preclinical animal models. This platform for cognitive assessment in animals is comparable to human neuropsychological tests such as those employed by the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery, and thus has several advantages compared to the standard maze apparatuses typically employed in rodent behavioral testing, such as the Morris water maze. These include improved translation of preclinical models, as well as high throughput and the automation of animal testing. However, these systems are relatively expensive, which can impede progress for researchers with limited resources. Here we describe a low-cost touchscreen operant chamber based on the single-board computer, Raspberry PiTM, which is capable of performing tasks similar to those supported by current state-of-the-art systems. This system provides an affordable alternative for cognitive testing in a touchscreen operant paradigm for researchers with limited funding.
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19
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Krakenberg V, Woigk I, Garcia Rodriguez L, Kästner N, Kaiser S, Sachser N, Richter SH. Technology or ecology? New tools to assess cognitive judgement bias in mice. Behav Brain Res 2019; 362:279-287. [PMID: 30654122 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2019.01.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2018] [Revised: 12/10/2018] [Accepted: 01/12/2019] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
Cognitive judgement bias tests have become important new tools for the assessment of animal emotions. They allow for the inference of an animal's emotional state based on ambiguous cue interpretations. As mice are the predominantly used animal model for cognitive and behavioural neuroscience, research in this field would considerably benefit from the development of suitable judgement bias tests for this species. Against this background, we aimed to implement two different active choice cognitive judgement bias paradigms for mice in a methodological study. For this purpose, two experiments were conducted: in experiment I, an automated, vision-based touchscreen technique was applied, allowing for the direct translation of tasks from rodents to humans and vice versa. Experiment II comprised a task relying on more ecologically relevant cues in form of tunnels of different lengths. While the touchscreen task was characterized by automation-related advantages such as the possibility to present many trials per session and a high convenience for the experimenter, the tunnel task was learned faster by the mice. In both tests, however, the response to the trained and ambiguous conditions resulted in a graded curve, the basic requirement for proving task validity. Thus, both the translational touchscreen task as well as the ecologically more relevant tunnel task could successfully be implemented and provide new tools for the future assessment of cognitive judgement biases in mice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Viktoria Krakenberg
- Department of Behavioural Biology, University of Münster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Münster, Germany.
| | - Irene Woigk
- Department of Behavioural Biology, University of Münster, Germany.
| | | | - Niklas Kästner
- Department of Behavioural Biology, University of Münster, Germany.
| | - Sylvia Kaiser
- Department of Behavioural Biology, University of Münster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Münster, Germany.
| | - Norbert Sachser
- Department of Behavioural Biology, University of Münster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Münster, Germany.
| | - S Helene Richter
- Department of Behavioural Biology, University of Münster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Münster, Germany.
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20
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Lee S, Kim JY, Kim E, Seo K, Kang YJ, Kim JY, Kim CH, Song HT, Saksida LM, Lee JE. Assessment of Cognitive Impairment in a Mouse Model of High-Fat Diet-Induced Metabolic Stress with Touchscreen-Based Automated Battery System. Exp Neurobiol 2018; 27:277-286. [PMID: 30181690 PMCID: PMC6120966 DOI: 10.5607/en.2018.27.4.277] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2018] [Revised: 08/03/2018] [Accepted: 08/06/2018] [Indexed: 01/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Obesity-related metabolic disorders can affect not only systemic health but also brain function. Recent studies have elucidated that amyloid beta deposition cannot satisfactorily explain the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and that dysregulation of glucose metabolism is a critical factor for the sporadic onset of non-genetic AD. Identifying the pathophysiology of AD due to changes in brain metabolism is crucial; however, it is limited in measuring changes in brain cognitive function due to metabolic changes in animal models. The touchscreen-based automated battery system, which is more accurate and less invasive than conventional behavioral test tools, is used to assess the cognition of mice with dysregulated metabolism. This system was introduced in humans to evaluate cognitive function and was recently back-translated in monkeys and rodents. We used outbred ICR mice fed on high-fat diet (HFD) and performed the paired associates learning (PAL) test to detect their visual memory and new learning ability loss as well as to assess memory impairment. The behavioral performance of the HFD mice was weaker than that of normal mice in the training but was not significantly associated with motivation. In the PAL test, the average number of trials completed and proportion of correct touches was significantly lower in HFD mice than in normal diet-fed mice. Our results reveal that HFD-induced metabolic dysregulation has detrimental effects on operant learning according to the percentage of correct responses in PAL. These findings establish that HFD-induced metabolic stress may have an effect in accelerating AD-like pathogenesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Saeram Lee
- Department of Anatomy, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 03722, Korea.,BK21 PLUS Project for Medical Science, and Brain Research Institute, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 03722, Korea
| | - Jong Youl Kim
- Department of Anatomy, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 03722, Korea
| | - Eosu Kim
- BK21 PLUS Project for Medical Science, and Brain Research Institute, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 03722, Korea.,Department of Psychiatry, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 03722, Korea
| | - KyoungYul Seo
- Department of Ophthalmology and The Institute of Vision Research, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 03722, Korea
| | - Youn Jae Kang
- Department of Anatomy, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 03722, Korea.,BK21 PLUS Project for Medical Science, and Brain Research Institute, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 03722, Korea
| | - Jae Young Kim
- Department of Anatomy, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 03722, Korea
| | - Chul-Hoon Kim
- BK21 PLUS Project for Medical Science, and Brain Research Institute, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 03722, Korea.,Department of Pharmacology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 03722, Korea
| | - Ho Taek Song
- Department of Radiology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 03722, Korea
| | - Lisa M Saksida
- Department of Psychology and MRC/Wellcome Trust Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.,Canada Research Chair in Translational Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Western Ontario, London, ON N6G 2VA, Canada.,Department of Pharmacology & Physiology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON N6G 2VA, Canada
| | - Jong Eun Lee
- Department of Anatomy, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 03722, Korea.,BK21 PLUS Project for Medical Science, and Brain Research Institute, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 03722, Korea
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21
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Nichols JN, Hagan KL, Floyd CL. Evaluation of Touchscreen Chambers To Assess Cognition in Adult Mice: Effect of Training and Mild Traumatic Brain Injury. J Neurotrauma 2018; 34:2481-2494. [PMID: 28558476 DOI: 10.1089/neu.2017.4998] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Cognitive impairments are often experienced after a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). In the clinical arena, neuropsychological assessments are used frequently to detect cognitive deficits. Animal models of mTBI, however, rely on an assortment of behavioral tasks to assess cognitive outcome. Computer-based touchscreen systems have been developed for rodents and are hypothesized to offer a translational approach to evaluate cognitive function because of the similarities of tasks performed in rodents to those implemented in humans. While these touchscreen systems have been used in pre-clinical models of neurodegenerative diseases and psychiatric disorders, their use in assessing cognitive impairment after mTBI has not been investigated. We hypothesized that mTBI would result in impaired cognitive performance on touchscreen tasks, particularly those with hippocampal-based learning components, including the paired associate learning (PAL) task and the location discrimination (LD) task. Adult male, C57BL/6 mice received a single impact-acceleration mTBI. We found that training mice before injury to perform to criteria is arduous and that performance is sensitive to many environmental variables. Despite extensive optimization and training, mice failed to perform better than chance in the PAL paradigm. Alternatively, mice demonstrated some capacity to learn in the LD paradigm, but only with the easier stages of the task. The mTBI did not affect performance in the LD paradigm, however. Thus, we concluded that under the conditions presented here, the PAL and LD touchscreen tasks are not robust outcome measures for the evaluation of cognitive performance in C57BL/6 mice after a single impact-acceleration mTBI.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica N Nichols
- 1 Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Alabama at Birmingham , Birmingham, Alabama
| | - Kenton L Hagan
- 2 Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Pennsylvania , Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
| | - Candace L Floyd
- 1 Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Alabama at Birmingham , Birmingham, Alabama
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22
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Al-Onaizi MA, Parfitt GM, Kolisnyk B, Law CSH, Guzman MS, Barros DM, Leung LS, Prado MAM, Prado VF. Regulation of Cognitive Processing by Hippocampal Cholinergic Tone. Cereb Cortex 2018; 27:1615-1628. [PMID: 26803167 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhv349] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Cholinergic dysfunction has been associated with cognitive abnormalities in a variety of neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases. Here we tested how information processing is regulated by cholinergic tone in genetically modified mice targeting the vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VAChT), a protein required for acetylcholine release. We measured long-term potentiation of Schaffer collateral-CA1 synapses in vivo and assessed information processing by using a mouse touchscreen version of paired associates learning task (PAL). Acquisition of information in the mouse PAL task correlated to levels of hippocampal VAChT, suggesting a critical role for cholinergic tone. Accordingly, synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus in vivo was disturbed, but not completely abolished, by decreased hippocampal cholinergic signaling. Disrupted forebrain cholinergic signaling also affected working memory, a result reproduced by selectively decreasing VAChT in the hippocampus. In contrast, spatial memory was relatively preserved, whereas reversal spatial memory was sensitive to decreased hippocampal cholinergic signaling. This work provides a refined roadmap of how synaptically secreted acetylcholine influences distinct behaviors and suggests that distinct forms of cognitive processing may be regulated in different ways by cholinergic activity.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Gustavo M Parfitt
- Robarts Research Institute.,Programa de Pós-graduação em Ciências Fisiológicas, Fisiologia Animal Comparada, Laboratório de Neurociências (FURG), Brazil
| | | | - Clayton S H Law
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, CanadaN6A5K8
| | - Monica S Guzman
- Robarts Research Institute.,Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada N6A5K8
| | - Daniela Martí Barros
- Programa de Pós-graduação em Ciências Fisiológicas, Fisiologia Animal Comparada, Laboratório de Neurociências (FURG), Brazil
| | - L Stan Leung
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, CanadaN6A5K8
| | - Marco A M Prado
- Robarts Research Institute.,Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology.,Graduate Program in Neuroscience and.,Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada N6A5K8
| | - Vania F Prado
- Robarts Research Institute.,Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology.,Graduate Program in Neuroscience and.,Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada N6A5K8
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23
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Romberg C, Bartko S, Wess J, Saksida LM, Bussey TJ. Impaired object-location learning and recognition memory but enhanced sustained attention in M2 muscarinic receptor-deficient mice. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2018; 235:3495-3508. [PMID: 30327842 PMCID: PMC6267149 DOI: 10.1007/s00213-018-5065-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2018] [Accepted: 10/03/2018] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
RATIONALE Muscarinic acetylcholine receptors are known to play key roles in mediating cognitive processes, and impaired muscarinic cholinergic neurotransmission is associated with normal ageing processes and Alzheimer's disease. However, the specific contributions of the individual muscarinic receptor subtypes (M1-M5) to cognition are presently not well understood. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to investigate the contribution of M2-type muscarinic receptor signalling to sustained attention, executive control and learning and memory. METHODS M2 receptor-deficient (M2-/-) mice were tested on a touchscreen-operated task battery testing visual discrimination, behavioural flexibility, object-location associative learning, attention and response control. Spontaneous recognition memory for real-world objects was also assessed. RESULTS We found that M2-/- mice showed an enhancement of attentional performance, but significant deficits on some tests of learning and memory. Executive control and visual discrimination were unaffected by M2-depletion. CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that M2 activation has heterogeneous effects across cognitive domains, and provide insights into how acetylcholine may support multiple specific cognitive processes through functionally distinct cholinergic receptor subtypes. They also suggest that therapeutics involving M2 receptor-active compounds should be assessed across a broad range of cognitive domains, as they may enhance some cognitive functions, but impair others.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carola Romberg
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK. .,Wellcome Trust and MRC Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK. .,Department of Psychology, Research Unit Biological Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany.
| | - Susan Bartko
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB UK
| | - Jürgen Wess
- Molecular Signaling Section, Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892 USA
| | - Lisa M. Saksida
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB UK ,Wellcome Trust and MRC Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB UK ,Department of Psychology, Research Unit Biological Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany ,Brain and Mind Institute, Western University, London, ON Canada
| | - Timothy J. Bussey
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB UK ,Wellcome Trust and MRC Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB UK ,Brain and Mind Institute, Western University, London, ON Canada ,Molecular Medicine Research Laboratories, Robarts Research Institute & Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University, London, ON Canada
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24
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Translational Assays for Assessment of Cognition in Rodent Models of Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia. J Mol Neurosci 2016; 60:371-382. [DOI: 10.1007/s12031-016-0837-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2016] [Accepted: 08/31/2016] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
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25
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Begeti F, Schwab LC, Mason SL, Barker RA. Hippocampal dysfunction defines disease onset in Huntington's disease. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2016; 87:975-81. [PMID: 26833174 DOI: 10.1136/jnnp-2015-312413] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2015] [Accepted: 01/03/2016] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Huntington's disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disorder characterised by a triad of motor, psychiatric and cognitive deficits with the latter classically attributed to disruption of frontostriatal networks. However, emerging evidence from animal models of HD suggests that some of the early cognitive deficits may have a hippocampal basis. The objective of this study was to link previous rodent findings in this area to clinical practice. METHODS In this study, 94 participants included patients with early HD, premanifest HD and age-matched controls underwent hippocampal-based cognitive assessments. These included a virtual reality version of the Morris water maze, a task involved participants having to swim through a virtual pool to find a submerged platform using a joystick, and the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) paired associates learning task, a test also known to rely on hippocampal integrity. RESULTS Patients with early HD showed impaired performance in both the virtual Morris water maze and the CANTAB paired associates learning. Such deficits were also correlated with estimated years to diagnosis in premanifest participants. CONCLUSIONS This study highlights the merit of using analogous tests in the laboratory and clinic and demonstrates that hippocampal impairments are an early feature of HD in patients as previously shown in rodent models of the disease. As such, they could be used not only to assist in the diagnosis of disease onset, but may also be useful as an outcome measure in future therapeutic trials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Faye Begeti
- Department of Clinical Neurosciences, John van Geest Centre for Brain Repair, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Laetitia C Schwab
- Department of Clinical Neurosciences, John van Geest Centre for Brain Repair, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Sarah L Mason
- Department of Clinical Neurosciences, John van Geest Centre for Brain Repair, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Roger A Barker
- Department of Clinical Neurosciences, John van Geest Centre for Brain Repair, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK Department of Neurology, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, UK
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26
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Kim M, Kwak C, Yu NK, Kaang BK. Optimization of the touchscreen paired-associate learning (PAL) task for mice and its dorsal hippocampal dependency. Anim Cells Syst (Seoul) 2016. [DOI: 10.1080/19768354.2016.1221855] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022] Open
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27
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Nilsson SR, Fejgin K, Gastambide F, Vogt MA, Kent BA, Nielsen V, Nielsen J, Gass P, Robbins TW, Saksida LM, Stensbøl TB, Tricklebank MD, Didriksen M, Bussey TJ. Assessing the Cognitive Translational Potential of a Mouse Model of the 22q11.2 Microdeletion Syndrome. Cereb Cortex 2016; 26:3991-4003. [PMID: 27507786 PMCID: PMC5028007 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhw229] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2016] [Accepted: 07/03/2016] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
A chromosomal microdeletion at the 22q11.2 locus is associated with extensive cognitive impairments, schizophrenia and other psychopathology in humans. Previous reports indicate that mouse models of the 22q11.2 microdeletion syndrome (22q11.2DS) may model the genetic basis of cognitive deficits relevant for neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia. To assess the models usefulness for drug discovery, a novel mouse (Df(h22q11)/+) was assessed in an extensive battery of cognitive assays by partners within the NEWMEDS collaboration (Innovative Medicines Initiative Grant Agreement No. 115008). This battery included classic and touchscreen-based paradigms with recognized sensitivity and multiple attempts at reproducing previously published findings in 22q11.2DS mouse models. This work represents one of the most comprehensive reports of cognitive functioning in a transgenic animal model. In accordance with previous reports, there were non-significant trends or marginal impairment in some tasks. However, the Df(h22q11)/+ mouse did not show comprehensive deficits; no robust impairment was observed following more than 17 experiments and 14 behavioral paradigms. Thus - within the current protocols - the 22q11.2DS mouse model fails to mimic the cognitive alterations observed in human 22q11.2 deletion carriers. We suggest that the 22q11.2DS model may induce liability for cognitive dysfunction with additional "hits" being required for phenotypic expression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simon Ro Nilsson
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK Department of Psychology, State University of New York at Binghamton, Binghamton, NY 13902-6000, USA
| | - Kim Fejgin
- H. Lundbeck A/S, Synaptic Transmission, Neuroscience Research DK, Ottiliavej 9, Valby 2500, Denmark
| | - Francois Gastambide
- In Vivo Pharmacology, Lilly Research Laboratories, Eli Lilly & Co. Ltd, Erl Wood Manor, Sunninghill Road, Windlesham GU20 6PH, UK
| | - Miriam A Vogt
- Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim Faculty, University of Heidelberg, J5, 68159 Mannheim, Germany
| | - Brianne A Kent
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK
| | - Vibeke Nielsen
- H. Lundbeck A/S, Synaptic Transmission, Neuroscience Research DK, Ottiliavej 9, Valby 2500, Denmark
| | - Jacob Nielsen
- H. Lundbeck A/S, Synaptic Transmission, Neuroscience Research DK, Ottiliavej 9, Valby 2500, Denmark
| | - Peter Gass
- Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim Faculty, University of Heidelberg, J5, 68159 Mannheim, Germany
| | - Trevor W Robbins
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK
| | - Lisa M Saksida
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK
| | - Tine B Stensbøl
- H. Lundbeck A/S, Synaptic Transmission, Neuroscience Research DK, Ottiliavej 9, Valby 2500, Denmark
| | - Mark D Tricklebank
- In Vivo Pharmacology, Lilly Research Laboratories, Eli Lilly & Co. Ltd, Erl Wood Manor, Sunninghill Road, Windlesham GU20 6PH, UK
| | - Michael Didriksen
- H. Lundbeck A/S, Synaptic Transmission, Neuroscience Research DK, Ottiliavej 9, Valby 2500, Denmark
| | - Timothy J Bussey
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK
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Roschlau C, Votteler A, Hauber W. Stimulant drug effects on touchscreen automated paired-associates learning (PAL) in rats. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2016; 23:422-6. [PMID: 27421894 PMCID: PMC4947238 DOI: 10.1101/lm.040345.115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2015] [Accepted: 05/09/2016] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Here we tested in rats effects of the procognitive drugs modafinil and methylphenidate on post-acquisition performance in an object–location paired-associates learning (PAL) task. Modafinil (32; 64 mg/kg) was without effect, while higher (9 mg/kg) but not lower (4.5 mg/kg) doses of methylphenidate impaired PAL performance. Likewise, higher but not lower doses of amphetamine (0.4; 0.8 mg/kg) and MK-801 (0.08; 0.12 mg/kg) decreased PAL performance. Impaired PAL performance induced by methylphenidate, amphetamine, and MK801 most likely reflects compromised cognitive function, e.g., retrieval of learned paired associates. Our data suggest that stimulant drugs such as methylphenidate and modafinil might not facilitate performance in hippocampus-related cognitive tasks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Corinna Roschlau
- Department Animal Physiology, University of Stuttgart, D-70550 Stuttgart, Germany
| | - Angeline Votteler
- Department Animal Physiology, University of Stuttgart, D-70550 Stuttgart, Germany
| | - Wolfgang Hauber
- Department Animal Physiology, University of Stuttgart, D-70550 Stuttgart, Germany
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29
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Hvoslef-Eide M, Nilsson SRO, Saksida LM, Bussey TJ. Cognitive Translation Using the Rodent Touchscreen Testing Approach. Curr Top Behav Neurosci 2016; 28:423-447. [PMID: 27305921 DOI: 10.1007/7854_2015_5007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
The development of novel therapeutic avenues for the treatment of cognitive deficits in psychiatric and neurodegenerative disease is of high importance, yet progress in this field has been slow. One reason for this lack of success may lie in discrepancies between how cognitive functions are assessed in experimental animals and humans. In an attempt to bridge this translational gap, the rodent touchscreen testing platform is suggested as a translational tool. Specific examples of successful cross-species translation are discussed focusing on paired associate learning (PAL), the 5-choice serial reaction time task (5-CSRTT), the rodent continuous performance task (rCPT) and reversal learning. With ongoing research assessing the neurocognitive validity of tasks, the touchscreen approach is likely to become increasingly prevalent in translational cognitive research.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Hvoslef-Eide
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK.
| | - S R O Nilsson
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK
| | - L M Saksida
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK
| | - T J Bussey
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK
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30
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Barnett JH, Blackwell AD, Sahakian BJ, Robbins TW. The Paired Associates Learning (PAL) Test: 30 Years of CANTAB Translational Neuroscience from Laboratory to Bedside in Dementia Research. Curr Top Behav Neurosci 2016; 28:449-74. [PMID: 27646012 DOI: 10.1007/7854_2015_5001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 70] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/18/2023]
Abstract
The origins and rationale of the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) as a cross-species translational instrument suitable for use in human neuropsychopharmacological studies are reviewed. We focus on its use for the early assessment and detection of Alzheimer's disease, in particular the Paired Associates Learning (PAL) test. We consider its psychometric properties, neural validation, and utility, including studies on large samples of healthy volunteers, patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and Alzheimer's disease. We demonstrate how it can be applied in cross-species studies using experimental animals to bridge the cross-species translational 'gap'. We also show how the CANTAB PAL has bridged a second translational 'gap' through its application to the early detection of memory problems in primary care clinics, using iPad technology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer H Barnett
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
- Cambridge Cognition, Cambridge, UK.
| | - Andrew D Blackwell
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- Cambridge Cognition, Cambridge, UK
| | - Barbara J Sahakian
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- Medical Research Council/Wellcome Trust Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, Cambridge, UK
| | - Trevor W Robbins
- Medical Research Council/Wellcome Trust Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, Cambridge, UK
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
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31
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Lins BR, Howland JG. Effects of the metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 positive allosteric modulator CDPPB on rats tested with the paired associates learning task in touchscreen-equipped operant conditioning chambers. Behav Brain Res 2015; 301:152-60. [PMID: 26721467 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2015.12.029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2015] [Revised: 11/30/2015] [Accepted: 12/17/2015] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
Effective treatments for the cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia are critically needed. Positive allosteric modulation (PAM) of metabotropic glutamate receptor subtype 5 (mGluR5) is one strategy currently under investigation to improve these symptoms. Examining cognition using touchscreen-equipped operant chambers may increase translation between preclinical and clinical research through analogous behavioral testing paradigms in rodents and humans. We used acute CDPPB (1-30mg/kg) treatment to examine the effects of mGluR5 PAM in the touchscreen paired associates learning (PAL) task using well-trained rats with and without co-administration of acute MK-801 (0.15mg/kg). CDPPB had no consistent effects on task performance when administered alone and failed to reverse the MK-801 induced impairments at any of the examined doses. Overall, the disruptive effects of MK-801 on PAL were consistent with previous research but increasing mGluR5 signaling is not beneficial in the PAL task. Future research should test whether administration of CDPPB during PAL acquisition increases performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brittney R Lins
- Department of Physiology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5E5, Canada
| | - John G Howland
- Department of Physiology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5E5, Canada.
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32
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Hvoslef-Eide M, Mar AC, Nilsson SRO, Alsiö J, Heath CJ, Saksida LM, Robbins TW, Bussey TJ. The NEWMEDS rodent touchscreen test battery for cognition relevant to schizophrenia. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2015. [PMID: 26202612 DOI: 10.1007/s00213-015-4007-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/28/2023]
Abstract
RATIONALE The NEWMEDS initiative (Novel Methods leading to New Medications in Depression and Schizophrenia, http://www.newmeds-europe.com ) is a large industrial-academic collaborative project aimed at developing new methods for drug discovery for schizophrenia. As part of this project, Work package 2 (WP02) has developed and validated a comprehensive battery of novel touchscreen tasks for rats and mice for assessing cognitive domains relevant to schizophrenia. OBJECTIVES This article provides a review of the touchscreen battery of tasks for rats and mice for assessing cognitive domains relevant to schizophrenia and highlights validation data presented in several primary articles in this issue and elsewhere. METHODS The battery consists of the five-choice serial reaction time task and a novel rodent continuous performance task for measuring attention, a three-stimulus visual reversal and the serial visual reversal task for measuring cognitive flexibility, novel non-matching to sample-based tasks for measuring spatial working memory and paired-associates learning for measuring long-term memory. RESULTS The rodent (i.e. both rats and mice) touchscreen operant chamber and battery has high translational value across species due to its emphasis on construct as well as face validity. In addition, it offers cognitive profiling of models of diseases with cognitive symptoms (not limited to schizophrenia) through a battery approach, whereby multiple cognitive constructs can be measured using the same apparatus, enabling comparisons of performance across tasks. CONCLUSION This battery of tests constitutes an extensive tool package for both model characterisation and pre-clinical drug discovery.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Hvoslef-Eide
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK. .,MRC and Wellcome Trust Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK.
| | - A C Mar
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK.,MRC and Wellcome Trust Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK.,Department of Neuroscience and Physiology, New York University Medical Center, New York, NY, 10016, USA
| | - S R O Nilsson
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK.,MRC and Wellcome Trust Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK
| | - J Alsiö
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK.,MRC and Wellcome Trust Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK.,Department of Neuroscience, Unit of Functional Neurobiology, University of Uppsala, 75124, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - C J Heath
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK.,MRC and Wellcome Trust Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK
| | - L M Saksida
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK.,MRC and Wellcome Trust Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK
| | - T W Robbins
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK.,MRC and Wellcome Trust Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK
| | - T J Bussey
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK.,MRC and Wellcome Trust Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK
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Bridging the translational divide: identical cognitive touchscreen testing in mice and humans carrying mutations in a disease-relevant homologous gene. Sci Rep 2015; 5:14613. [PMID: 26423861 PMCID: PMC4589696 DOI: 10.1038/srep14613] [Citation(s) in RCA: 85] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2015] [Accepted: 08/28/2015] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Development of effective therapies for brain disorders has been hampered by a lack of translational cognitive testing methods. We present the first example of using the identical touchscreen-based cognitive test to assess mice and humans carrying disease-related genetic mutations. This new paradigm has significant implications for improving how we measure and model cognitive dysfunction in human disorders in animals, thus bridging the gap towards effective translation to the clinic.
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Touchscreen tasks in mice to demonstrate differences between hippocampal and striatal functions. Neurobiol Learn Mem 2015; 120:16-27. [PMID: 25687692 DOI: 10.1016/j.nlm.2015.02.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2014] [Revised: 02/07/2015] [Accepted: 02/09/2015] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
In mammals, hippocampal and striatal regions are engaged in separable cognitive processes usually assessed through species-specific paradigms. To reconcile cognitive testing among species, translational advantages of the touchscreen-based automated method have been recently promoted. However, it remains undetermined whether similar neural substrates would be involved in such behavioral tasks both in humans and rodents. To address this question, the effects of hippocampal or dorso-striatal fiber-sparing lesions were first assessed in mice through a battery of tasks (experiment A) comprising the acquisition of two touchscreen paradigms, the Paired Associates Learning (dPAL) and Visuo-Motor Conditional Learning (VMCL) tasks, and a more classical T-maze alternation task. Additionally, we sought to determine whether post-acquisition hippocampal lesions would alter memory retrieval in the dPAL task (experiment B). Pre-training lesions of dorsal striatum caused major impairments in all paradigms. In contrast, pre-training hippocampal lesions disrupted the performance of animals trained in the T-maze assay, but spared the acquisition in touchscreen tasks. Nonetheless, post-training hippocampal lesions severely impacted the recall of the previously learned dPAL task. Altogether, our data show that, after having demonstrated their potential in genetically modified mice, touchscreens also reveal perfectly adapted to taxing functional implications of brain structures in mice by means of lesion approaches. Unlike its human counterpart requiring an intact hippocampus, the acquisition of the dPAL task requires the integrity of the dorsal striatum in mice. The hippocampus only later intervenes, when acquired information needs to be retrieved. Touchscreen assays may therefore be suited to study striatal- or hippocampal-dependent forms of learnings in mice.
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Kim CH, Heath CJ, Kent BA, Bussey TJ, Saksida LM. The role of the dorsal hippocampus in two versions of the touchscreen automated paired associates learning (PAL) task for mice. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2015; 232:3899-910. [PMID: 25963561 PMCID: PMC4600471 DOI: 10.1007/s00213-015-3949-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2015] [Accepted: 04/19/2015] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
RATIONALE The CANTAB object-location paired-associate learning (PAL) test can detect cognitive deficits in schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease. A rodent version of touch screen PAL (dPAL) has been developed, but the underlying neural mechanisms are not fully understood. Although there is evidence that inactivation of the hippocampus following training leads to impairments in rats, this has not been tested in mice. Furthermore, it is not known whether acquisition, as opposed to performance, of the rodent version depends on the hippocampus. This is critical as many mouse models may have hippocampal dysfunction prior to the onset of task training. OBJECTIVES The objectives of this study are to examine the effects of dorsal hippocampal (dHp) dysfunction on both performance and acquisition of mouse dPAL and to determine if hippocampal task sensitivity could be increased using a newly developed context-disambiguated PAL (cdPAL) paradigm. METHODS In experiment 1, C57Bl/6 mice received post-acquisition dHp infusions of the GABA agonist muscimol. In experiment 2, C57Bl/6 mice received excitotoxic dHp lesions prior to dPAL/cdPAL acquisition. RESULTS Post-acquisition muscimol dose-dependently impaired dPAL and cdPAL performance. Pre-acquisition dHp lesions had only mild effects on both PAL tasks. Behavioural challenges including addition of objects and degradation of the visual stimuli with noise did not reveal any further impairments. CONCLUSIONS dPAL and cdPAL performance is hippocampus-dependent in the mouse, but both tasks can be learned in the absence of a functional dHp.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chi Hun Kim
- Department of Psychology, MRC/Wellcome Trust Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Downing St, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK.
| | - Christopher J. Heath
- Department of Psychology, MRC/Wellcome Trust Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Downing St, Cambridge, CB2 3EB UK
| | - Brianne A. Kent
- Department of Psychology, MRC/Wellcome Trust Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Downing St, Cambridge, CB2 3EB UK
| | - Timothy J. Bussey
- Department of Psychology, MRC/Wellcome Trust Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Downing St, Cambridge, CB2 3EB UK
| | - Lisa M. Saksida
- Department of Psychology, MRC/Wellcome Trust Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Downing St, Cambridge, CB2 3EB UK
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Wallace TL, Ballard TM, Glavis-Bloom C. Animal paradigms to assess cognition with translation to humans. Handb Exp Pharmacol 2015; 228:27-57. [PMID: 25977079 DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-16522-6_2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
Cognition is a complex brain function that represents processes such as learning and memory, attention, working memory, and executive functions amongst others. Impairments in cognition are prevalent in many neuropsychiatric and neurological disorders with few viable treatment options. The development of new therapies is challenging, and poor efficacy in clinical development continues to be one of the most consistent reasons compounds fail to advance, suggesting that traditional animal models are not predictive of human conditions and behavior. An effort to improve the construct validity of neuropsychological testing across species with the intent of facilitating therapeutic development has been strengthening over recent years. With an emphasis on understanding the underlying biology, optimizing the use of appropriate systems (e.g., transgenic animals) to model targeted disease states, and incorporating non-rodent species (e.g., non-human primates) that may enable a closer comparison to humans, an improvement in the translatability of the results will be possible. This chapter focuses on some promising translational cognitive paradigms for use in rodents, non-human primates, and humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tanya L Wallace
- Center for Neuroscience, SRI International, Menlo Park, CA, USA,
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37
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Talpos JC, Aerts N, Fellini L, Steckler T. A touch-screen based paired-associates learning (PAL) task for the rat may provide a translatable pharmacological model of human cognitive impairment. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 2014; 122:97-106. [DOI: 10.1016/j.pbb.2014.03.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2013] [Revised: 03/13/2014] [Accepted: 03/16/2014] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
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Delotterie D, Mathis C, Cassel JC, Dorner-Ciossek C, Marti A. Optimization of touchscreen-based behavioral paradigms in mice: implications for building a battery of tasks taxing learning and memory functions. PLoS One 2014; 9:e100817. [PMID: 24960028 PMCID: PMC4069170 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0100817] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2014] [Accepted: 05/28/2014] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Although many clinical pathological states are now detectable using imaging and biochemical analyses, neuropsychological tests are often considered as valuable complementary approaches to confirm diagnosis, especially for disorders like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease, and schizophrenia. The touchscreen-based automated test battery, which was introduced two decades ago in humans to assess cognitive functions, has recently been successfully back-translated in monkeys and rodents. We focused on optimizing the protocol of three distinct behavioral paradigms in mice: two variants of the Paired Associates Learning (PAL) and the Visuo-Motor Conditional Learning (VMCL) tasks. Acquisition of these tasks was assessed in naive versus pre-trained mice. In naive mice, we managed to define testing conditions allowing significant improvements of learning performances over time in the three aforementioned tasks. In pre-trained mice, we observed differential acquisition rates after specific task combinations. Particularly, we identified that animals previously trained in the VMCL paradigm subsequently poorly learned the sPAL rule. Together with previous findings, these data confirm the feasibility of using such behavioral assays to evaluate the power of different models of cognitive dysfunction in mice. They also highlight the risk of interactions between tasks when rodents are run through a battery of different cognitive touchscreen paradigms.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Delotterie
- Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives et Adaptatives, UMR 7364, Université de Strasbourg-CNRS, Faculté de Psychologie, Strasbourg, France
- Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co KG, Dept. of CNS Diseases Research, Biberach an der Riss, Germany
- * E-mail:
| | - Chantal Mathis
- Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives et Adaptatives, UMR 7364, Université de Strasbourg-CNRS, Faculté de Psychologie, Strasbourg, France
| | - Jean-Christophe Cassel
- Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives et Adaptatives, UMR 7364, Université de Strasbourg-CNRS, Faculté de Psychologie, Strasbourg, France
| | - Cornelia Dorner-Ciossek
- Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co KG, Dept. of CNS Diseases Research, Biberach an der Riss, Germany
| | - Anelise Marti
- Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co KG, Dept. of CNS Diseases Research, Biberach an der Riss, Germany
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Soma S, Suematsu N, Shimegi S. Blockade of muscarinic receptors impairs the retrieval of well-trained memory. Front Aging Neurosci 2014; 6:63. [PMID: 24782760 PMCID: PMC3986532 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2014.00063] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2014] [Accepted: 03/23/2014] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Acetylcholine (ACh) is known to play an important role in memory functions, and its deficit has been proposed to cause the cognitive decline associated with advanced age and Alzheimer's disease (the cholinergic hypothesis). Although many studies have tested the cholinergic hypothesis for recently acquired memory, only a few have investigated the role of ACh in the retrieval process of well-trained cognitive memory, which describes the memory established from repetition and daily routine. To examine this point, we trained rats to perform a two-alternative forced-choice visual detection task. Each trial was started by having the rats pull upward a central-lever, which triggered the presentation of a visual stimulus to the right or left side of the display monitor, and then pulling upward a stimulus-relevant choice-lever located on both sides. Rats learned the task within 10 days, and the task training was continued for a month. Task performance was measured with or without systemic administration of a muscarinic ACh receptor (mAChR) antagonist, scopolamine (SCOP), prior to the test. After 30 min of SCOP administration, rats stopped manipulating any lever even though they explored the lever and surrounding environment, suggesting a loss of the task-related associative memory. Three hours later, rats were recovered to complete the trial, but the rats selected the levers irrespective of the visual stimulus, suggesting they remembered a series of lever-manipulations in association with a reward, but not association between the reward and visual stimulation. Furthermore, an m1-AChR, but not nicotinic AChR antagonist caused a similar deficit in the task execution. SCOP neither interfered with locomotor activity nor drinking behavior, while it influenced anxiety. These results suggest that the activation of mAChRs at basal ACh levels is essential for the recall of well-trained cognitive memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shogo Soma
- Department of Health and Sport Sciences, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University Osaka, Japan
| | - Naofumi Suematsu
- Department of Health and Sport Sciences, Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University Osaka, Japan
| | - Satoshi Shimegi
- Department of Health and Sport Sciences, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University Osaka, Japan ; Department of Health and Sport Sciences, Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University Osaka, Japan
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Silverman JL, Gastrell PT, Karras MN, Solomon M, Crawley JN. Cognitive abilities on transitive inference using a novel touchscreen technology for mice. Cereb Cortex 2013; 25:1133-42. [PMID: 24293564 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bht293] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Cognitive abilities are impaired in neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and schizophrenia. Preclinical models with strong endophenotypes relevant to cognitive dysfunctions offer a valuable resource for therapeutic development. However, improved assays to test higher order cognition are needed. We employed touchscreen technology to design a complex transitive inference (TI) assay that requires cognitive flexibility and relational learning. C57BL/6J (B6) mice with good cognitive skills and BTBR T+tf/J (BTBR), a model of ASD with cognitive deficits, were evaluated in simple and complex touchscreen assays. Both B6 and BTBR acquired visual discrimination and reversal. BTBR displayed deficits on components of TI, when 4 stimuli pairs were interspersed, which required flexible integrated knowledge. BTBR displayed impairment on the A > E inference, analogous to the A > E deficit in ASD. B6 and BTBR mice both reached criterion on the B > D comparison, unlike the B > D impairment in schizophrenia. These results demonstrate that mice are capable of complex discriminations and higher order tasks using methods and equipment paralleling those used in humans. Our discovery that a mouse model of ASD displays a TI deficit similar to humans with ASD supports the use of the touchscreen technology for complex cognitive tasks in mouse models of neurodevelopmental disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- J L Silverman
- MIND Institute, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, University of California Davis School of Medicine, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroscience, National Institute of Mental Health Intramural Research Program, Bethesda, MD 20892-3730, USA
| | - P T Gastrell
- Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroscience, National Institute of Mental Health Intramural Research Program, Bethesda, MD 20892-3730, USA
| | - M N Karras
- Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroscience, National Institute of Mental Health Intramural Research Program, Bethesda, MD 20892-3730, USA
| | - M Solomon
- MIND Institute, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, University of California Davis School of Medicine, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA Imaging Research Center, University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA
| | - J N Crawley
- MIND Institute, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, University of California Davis School of Medicine, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroscience, National Institute of Mental Health Intramural Research Program, Bethesda, MD 20892-3730, USA
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Testing long-term memory in animal models of schizophrenia: Suggestions from CNTRICS. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2013; 37:2141-8. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2013.06.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2012] [Revised: 04/30/2013] [Accepted: 06/10/2013] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
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42
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Horner AE, Heath CJ, Hvoslef-Eide M, Kent BA, Kim CH, Nilsson SRO, Alsiö J, Oomen CA, Holmes A, Saksida LM, Bussey TJ. The touchscreen operant platform for testing learning and memory in rats and mice. Nat Protoc 2013; 8:1961-84. [PMID: 24051959 PMCID: PMC3914026 DOI: 10.1038/nprot.2013.122] [Citation(s) in RCA: 269] [Impact Index Per Article: 24.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
An increasingly popular method of assessing cognitive functions in rodents is the automated touchscreen platform, on which a number of different cognitive tests can be run in a manner very similar to touchscreen methods currently used to test human subjects. This methodology is low stress (using appetitive rather than aversive reinforcement), has high translational potential and lends itself to a high degree of standardization and throughput. Applications include the study of cognition in rodent models of psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases (e.g., Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, Huntington's disease, frontotemporal dementia), as well as the characterization of the role of select brain regions, neurotransmitter systems and genes in rodents. This protocol describes how to perform four touchscreen assays of learning and memory: visual discrimination, object-location paired-associates learning, visuomotor conditional learning and autoshaping. It is accompanied by two further protocols (also published in this issue) that use the touchscreen platform to assess executive function, working memory and pattern separation.
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43
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Talpos J, Steckler T. Touching on translation. Cell Tissue Res 2013; 354:297-308. [DOI: 10.1007/s00441-013-1694-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2013] [Accepted: 07/01/2013] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
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44
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Harel BT, Pietrzak RH, Snyder PJ, Maruff P. Effect of cholinergic neurotransmission modulation on visual spatial paired associate learning in healthy human adults. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2013; 228:673-83. [PMID: 23568575 DOI: 10.1007/s00213-013-3072-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2012] [Accepted: 03/09/2013] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
RATIONALE Use of cross-species neuropsychological paradigms such as visual-spatial paired associate learning (PAL) may allow for a better understanding of underlying neural substrates of memory. Such paradigms, which are often used to guide models of memory in animals, can then be carried forward into humans to provide a basis for evaluation of pharmacologic compounds designed to ameliorate learning and memory impairments in neurologic and psychiatric morbidities. OBJECTIVES This double-blind, randomized, crossover trial investigated effects of donepezil, an acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitor, in attenuating scopolamine-induced cognitive impairment using a novel, "process-based" computerized measure of visual-spatial PAL. RESULTS In healthy male volunteers, scopolamine (0.6 mg) induced a time-dependent reduction in visual-spatial PAL, with the greatest impairment (Cohen's d = 1.37) observed 2 h after dosing. Cotreatment with donepezil (10 mg) significantly ameliorated scopolamine-induced impairment at the 2-h time point (Cohen's d = 0.66). Process-based analyses revealed a significant impairment in both memory (Cohen's d = 1.37 to 0.50) and executive (Cohen's d = 1 .21 to 0.62) aspects of visual-spatial PAL performance following acute scopolamine challenge, and these reductions were ameliorated by donepezil. CONCLUSIONS Acute scopolamine challenge can produce large and robust deficits in visual-spatial PAL, which reflect impairments in both memory and executive processes. Coadministration of a single dose of donepezil can ameliorate these deficits. These results provide support for the use of a visual-spatial PAL test as a pharmacodynamic cognitive marker of central nervous system (CNS)-mediating compounds in humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brian T Harel
- CogState, Ltd, 195 Church St., 8th Floor, New Haven, CT 06510, USA.
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45
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Geerts H, Roberts P, Spiros A, Carr R. A strategy for developing new treatment paradigms for neuropsychiatric and neurocognitive symptoms in Alzheimer's disease. Front Pharmacol 2013; 4:47. [PMID: 23596419 PMCID: PMC3627142 DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2013.00047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/29/2012] [Accepted: 03/28/2013] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Successful disease modifying drug development for Alzheimer's disease (AD) has hit a roadblock with the recent failures of amyloid-based therapies, highlighting the translational disconnect between preclinical animal models and clinical outcome. Although disease modifying therapies are the Holy Grail to pursue, symptomatic therapies addressing cognitive and neuropsychiatric aspects of the disease are also extremely important for the quality of life of patients and caregivers. Despite the fact that neuropsychiatric problems in Alzheimer patients are the major driver for costs associated with institutionalization, no good preclinical animal models with predictive validity have been documented. We propose a combination of quantitative systems pharmacology (QSP), phenotypic screening and preclinical animal models as a novel strategy for addressing the bottleneck in both cognitive and neuropsychiatric drug discovery and development for AD. Preclinical animal models such as transgene rats documenting changes in neurotransmitters with tau and amyloid pathology will provide key information that together with human imaging, pathology and clinical data will inform the virtual patient model. In this way QSP modeling can partially overcome the translational disconnect and reduce the attrition of drug programs in the clinical setting. This approach is different from target driven drug discovery as it aims to restore emergent properties of the networks and therefore likely will identify multitarget drugs. We review examples on how this hybrid humanized QSP approach has been helpful in predicting clinical outcomes in schizophrenia treatment and cognitive impairment in AD and expand on how this strategy could be applied to neuropsychiatric symptoms in dementia. We believe such an innovative approach when used carefully could change the Research and Development paradigm for symptomatic treatment in AD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hugo Geerts
- In Silico Biosciences Berwyn, PA, USA ; Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA, USA
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46
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A preclinical cognitive test battery to parallel the National Institute of Health Toolbox in humans: bridging the translational gap. Neurobiol Aging 2013; 34:1891-901. [PMID: 23434040 DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2013.01.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2012] [Revised: 01/21/2013] [Accepted: 01/22/2013] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
A major goal of animal research is to identify interventions that can promote successful aging and delay or reverse age-related cognitive decline in humans. Recent advances in standardizing cognitive assessment tools for humans have the potential to bring preclinical work closer to human research in aging and Alzheimer's disease. The National Institute of Health (NIH) has led an initiative to develop a comprehensive Toolbox for Neurologic Behavioral Function (NIH Toolbox) to evaluate cognitive, motor, sensory and emotional function for use in epidemiologic and clinical studies spanning 3 to 85 years of age. This paper aims to analyze the strengths and limitations of animal behavioral tests that can be used to parallel those in the NIH Toolbox. We conclude that there are several paradigms available to define a preclinical battery that parallels the NIH Toolbox. We also suggest areas in which new tests may benefit the development of a comprehensive preclinical test battery for assessment of cognitive function in animal models of aging and Alzheimer's disease.
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47
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Mice discriminate between stationary and moving 2D shapes: application to the object recognition task to increase attention. Behav Brain Res 2013; 242:95-101. [PMID: 23291156 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2012.12.040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2012] [Revised: 12/20/2012] [Accepted: 12/24/2012] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
Selective attention can be assessed with the novel object recognition (NOR) test. In the standard version of this test the selection of objects to be used is critical. We created a modified version of NOR, the virtual object recognition test (VORT) in mice, where the 3D objects were replaced with highly discriminated geometrical shapes and presented on two 3.5-inch widescreen displays. No difference in the discrimination index (from 5min to 96h of inter-trial) was found between NOR and VORT. Scopolamine and mecamylamine decreased the discrimination index. Conversely, the discrimination index increased when nicotine was given to mice. No further improvement in the discrimination index was observed when nicotine was injected in mice presented with highly discriminable shapes. To test the possibility that object movements increased mice's attention in the VORT, different movements were applied to the same geometrical shapes previously presented. Mice were able to distinguish among different movements (horizontal, vertical, oblique). Notably, the shapes previously found not distinguishable when stationary were better discriminated when moving. Collectively, these findings indicate that VORT, based on virtual geometric simple shapes, offers the possibility to obtain rapid information on amnesic/pro-amnestic potential of new drugs. The introduction of motion is a strong cue that makes the task more valuable to study attention.
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48
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Nithianantharajah J, Komiyama N, McKechanie A, Johnstone M, Blackwood DH, St Clair D, Emes R, van de Lagemaat LN, Saksida L, Bussey T, Grant S. Synaptic scaffold evolution generated components of vertebrate cognitive complexity. Nat Neurosci 2013; 16:16-24. [PMID: 23201973 PMCID: PMC4131247 DOI: 10.1038/nn.3276] [Citation(s) in RCA: 194] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2012] [Accepted: 11/10/2012] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
The origins and evolution of higher cognitive functions, including complex forms of learning, attention and executive functions, are unknown. A potential mechanism driving the evolution of vertebrate cognition early in the vertebrate lineage (550 million years ago) was genome duplication and subsequent diversification of postsynaptic genes. Here we report, to our knowledge, the first genetic analysis of a vertebrate gene family in cognitive functions measured using computerized touchscreens. Comparison of mice carrying mutations in each of the four Dlg paralogs showed that simple associative learning required Dlg4, whereas Dlg2 and Dlg3 diversified to have opposing functions in complex cognitive processes. Exploiting the translational utility of touchscreens in humans and mice, testing Dlg2 mutations in both species showed that Dlg2's role in complex learning, cognitive flexibility and attention has been highly conserved over 100 million years. Dlg-family mutations underlie psychiatric disorders, suggesting that genome evolution expanded the complexity of vertebrate cognition at the cost of susceptibility to mental illness.
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Affiliation(s)
- J. Nithianantharajah
- Genes to Cognition Programme, Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences and Centre for Neuroregeneration, The University of Edinburgh, Chancellors Building, 47 Little France Crescent, Edinburgh UK EH16 4SB
- Genes to Cognition Programme, The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire UK CB10 1SA
| | - N.H. Komiyama
- Genes to Cognition Programme, Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences and Centre for Neuroregeneration, The University of Edinburgh, Chancellors Building, 47 Little France Crescent, Edinburgh UK EH16 4SB
- Genes to Cognition Programme, The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire UK CB10 1SA
| | - A. McKechanie
- Division of Psychiatry, The University of Edinburgh, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Edinburgh UK EH10 5HF
| | - M. Johnstone
- Division of Psychiatry, The University of Edinburgh, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Edinburgh UK EH10 5HF
| | - D. H. Blackwood
- Division of Psychiatry, The University of Edinburgh, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Edinburgh UK EH10 5HF
| | - D. St Clair
- Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen UK AB25 2ZD
| | - R.D. Emes
- School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus UK LE12 5RD
| | - L. N. van de Lagemaat
- Genes to Cognition Programme, Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences and Centre for Neuroregeneration, The University of Edinburgh, Chancellors Building, 47 Little France Crescent, Edinburgh UK EH16 4SB
- Genes to Cognition Programme, The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire UK CB10 1SA
| | - L.M. Saksida
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge & The MRC and The Wellcome Trust Behavioral and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge UK CB2 3EB
| | - T.J. Bussey
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge & The MRC and The Wellcome Trust Behavioral and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge UK CB2 3EB
| | - S.G.N. Grant
- Genes to Cognition Programme, Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences and Centre for Neuroregeneration, The University of Edinburgh, Chancellors Building, 47 Little France Crescent, Edinburgh UK EH16 4SB
- Genes to Cognition Programme, The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire UK CB10 1SA
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge & The MRC and The Wellcome Trust Behavioral and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge UK CB2 3EB
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Young JW, Jentsch JD, Bussey TJ, Wallace TL, Hutcheson DM. Consideration of species differences in developing novel molecules as cognition enhancers. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2012; 37:2181-93. [PMID: 23064177 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2012.10.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2012] [Revised: 09/20/2012] [Accepted: 10/02/2012] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
Abstract
The NIH-funded CNTRICS initiative has coordinated efforts to promote the vertical translation of novel procognitive molecules from testing in mice, rats and non-human primates, to clinical efficacy in patients with schizophrenia. CNTRICS highlighted improving construct validation of tasks across species to increase the likelihood that the translation of a candidate molecule to humans will be successful. Other aspects of cross-species behaviors remain important however. This review describes cognitive tasks utilized across species, providing examples of differences and similarities of innate behavior between species, as well as convergent construct and predictive validity. Tests of attention, olfactory discrimination, reversal learning, and paired associate learning are discussed. Moreover, information on the practical implication of species differences in drug development research is also provided. The issues covered here will aid in task development and utilization across species as well as reinforcing the positive role preclinical research can have in developing procognitive treatments for psychiatric disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jared W Young
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive MC 0804, La Jolla, CA 92093-0804, USA.
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Talpos JC, Fletcher AC, Circelli C, Tricklebank MD, Dix SL. The pharmacological sensitivity of a touchscreen-based visual discrimination task in the rat using simple and perceptually challenging stimuli. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2012; 221:437-49. [PMID: 22116313 DOI: 10.1007/s00213-011-2590-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2011] [Accepted: 11/11/2011] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
RATIONALE Cognitive testing with touchscreen-equipped operant boxes ('touchscreens') is becoming increasingly popular. Tasks, such as paired associate learning or reversal learning of visual stimuli, have the discrimination of visual stimuli as a fundamental component. However, the effect of drugs commonly used in the study of cognitive mechanisms has yet to be described in a visual discrimination. OBJECTIVE The objective of the study was to profile a range of psychoactive agents (glutamatergic, dopaminergic, and cholinergic agonists and antagonists) known to be important in cognitive processing on visual discrimination performance using a touch sensitive computer monitor. METHODS Male Lister Hooded rats were trained to a stable level of performance in a simple visual discrimination. In Experiment 1, the effect of MK-801, phencyclidine, memantine, dextroamphetamine sulphate (D-amphetamine) and scopolamine was assessed. In Experiment 2, the stimuli were blended together resulting in a perceptually more demanding discrimination and a reduction in accuracy. The rats used in Experiment 1 were then retested with these 'morphed' stimuli under the influence of the above compounds. RESULTS MK-801, PCP, and D-amphetamine induced selective deficits in accuracy in both versions of the task. In contrast, scopolamine and memantine produced non-selective deficits in accuracy. Morphing the stimuli reduced accuracy, but did not alter the observed behavioural profile after compound administration. CONCLUSION These data improve our understanding of the basic neuropharmacology of a visual discrimination in cognitive tests employing touchscreens and will aid in the interpretation of pharmacological studies with more cognitively demanding methodologies.
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Affiliation(s)
- J C Talpos
- Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, Turnhoutseweg 30, Beerse B2340, Belgium.
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