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Mallien AS, Soukup ST, Pfeiffer N, Brandwein C, Kulling SE, Chourbaji S, Gass P. Effects of Soy in Laboratory Rodent Diets on the Basal, Affective, and Cognitive Behavior of C57BL/6 Mice. JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR LABORATORY ANIMAL SCIENCE 2019; 58:532-541. [PMID: 31466555 DOI: 10.30802/aalas-jaalas-18-000129] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
Soy is one of the most common sources of protein in many commercial formulas for laboratory rodent diets. Soy contains isoflavones, which are estrogenic. Therefore, soy-containing animal diets might influence estrogen-regulated systems, including basal behavioral domains, as well as affective behavior and cognition. Furthermore, the isoflavone content of soy varies, potentially unpredictably confounding behavioral results. Therefore researchers are increasingly considering completely avoiding dietary soy to circumvent this problem. Several animal studies have investigated the effects of soy free diets but produced inconsistent results. In addition, most of these previous studies were performed in outbred rat or mouse strains. In the current study, we assessed whether a soy-free diet altered locomotion, exploration, nesting, anxiety-related behaviors, learning, and memory in C57BL/6 mice, the most common inbred strain used in biomedical research. The parameters evaluated address measures of basic health, natural behavior, and affective state that also are landmarks for animal welfare. We found minor differences between feeding groups but no indications of altered welfare. We therefore suggest that a soy-free diet can be used as a standard diet to prevent undesirable side effects of isoflavones and to further optimize diet standardization, quality assurance, and ultimately increase the reproducibility of experiments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne S Mallien
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Research Group Animal Models in Psychiatry, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany;,
| | - Sebastian T Soukup
- Department of Safety and Quality of Fruit and Vegetables, Max Rubner Institut, Karlsruhe, Germany
| | - Natascha Pfeiffer
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Research Group Animal Models in Psychiatry, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Christiane Brandwein
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Research Group Animal Models in Psychiatry, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Sabine E Kulling
- Department of Safety and Quality of Fruit and Vegetables, Max Rubner Institut, Karlsruhe, Germany
| | - Sabine Chourbaji
- Interfaculty Biomedical Research Facility, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Peter Gass
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Research Group Animal Models in Psychiatry, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
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Lima-Ojeda JM, Mallien AS, Brandwein C, Lang UE, Hefter D, Inta D. Altered prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle response in BDNF-deficient mice in a model of early postnatal hypoxia: implications for schizophrenia. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 2019; 269:439-447. [PMID: 29453493 DOI: 10.1007/s00406-018-0882-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2017] [Accepted: 02/12/2018] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
The brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a major proliferative agent in the nervous system. Both BDNF-deficiency and perinatal hypoxia represent genetic/environmental risk factors for schizophrenia. Moreover, a decreased BDNF response to birth hypoxia was associated with the disease. BDNF expression is influenced by neuronal activity and environmental conditions such as hypoxia. Thus, it may partake in neuroprotective and reparative mechanisms in acute or chronic neuronal insults. However, the interaction of hypoxia and BDNF is insufficiently understood and the behavioral outcome unknown. Therefore, we conducted a battery of behavioral tests in a classical model of chronic early postnatal mild hypoxia (10% O2), known to significantly impair brain development, in BDNF-deficient mice. We found selective deficits in measures associated with sensorimotor gating, namely enhanced acoustic startle response (ASR) and reduced prepulse inhibition (PPI) of ASR in BDNF-deficient mice. Unexpectedly, the alterations of sensorimotor gating were caused only by BDNF-deficiency alone, whereas hypoxia failed to evoke severe deficits and even leads to a milder phenotype in BDNF-deficient mice. As deficits in sensorimotor gating are present in schizophrenia and animal models of the disease, our results are of relevance regarding the involvement of BDNF in its pathogenesis. On the other hand, they suggest that the effect of perinatal hypoxia on long-term brain abnormalities is complex, ranging from protective to deleterious actions, and may critically depend on the degree of hypoxia. Therefore, future studies may refine existing hypoxia protocols to better understand neurodevelopmental consequences associated with schizophrenia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juan M Lima-Ojeda
- RG Animal Models in Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.,Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Anne S Mallien
- RG Animal Models in Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Christiane Brandwein
- RG Animal Models in Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Undine E Lang
- Department of Psychiatry (UPK), University of Basel, Wilhelm Klein-Strasse 27, 4012, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Dimitri Hefter
- RG Animal Models in Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Dragos Inta
- RG Animal Models in Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany. .,Department of Psychiatry (UPK), University of Basel, Wilhelm Klein-Strasse 27, 4012, Basel, Switzerland.
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Lack of protracted behavioral abnormalities following intermittent or continuous chronic mild hypoxia in perinatal C57BL/6 mice. Neurosci Lett 2014; 577:77-82. [PMID: 24937272 DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2014.06.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2014] [Revised: 06/06/2014] [Accepted: 06/07/2014] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Several prospective studies indicated perinatal hypoxia as risk factor for psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia. It is thought that hypoxia prior to or during birth may contribute to alterations leading to the protracted clinical manifestation during young adulthood. However, only a small fraction of children with a history of perinatal hypoxia develop later psychotic symptoms, therefore it is not known if hypoxia alone is sufficient to trigger long-term behavioral changes. Here we exposed C57BL/6 mice from postnatal day 3-7 (P3-P7) to two established paradigms of chronic mild hypoxia (10% ambient O2), intermittent and continuous. Subsequently, mice were analysed during young adult stages using several basic behavioral tests. Previous studies demonstrated severe, but only transient, cortical damage in these paradigms; it is not clear, if these reversible morphological changes are accompanied by long-term behavioral effects. We found that neither intermittent nor continuous perinatal hypoxia induced long-term behavioral alterations. This may be due to the high regenerative capacity of the perinatal brain. Other possibilities include a potential resistance to perinatal hypoxia of the mouse strain used here or a level of hypoxia that was insufficient to trigger significant behavioral changes. Therefore, our data do not exclude a role of perinatal hypoxia as risk factor for psychiatric disorders. They rather suggest that either other, more severe hypoxic conditions like anoxia, or the presence of additional factors (as genetic risk factors) are necessary for generating long-term behavioral abnormalities.
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Inta D, Vogt MA, Elkin H, Weber T, Lima-Ojeda JM, Schneider M, Luoni A, Riva MA, Gertz K, Hellmann-Regen J, Kronenberg G, Meyer-Lindenberg A, Sprengel R, Gass P. Phenotype of mice with inducible ablation of GluA1 AMPA receptors during late adolescence: relevance for mental disorders. Hippocampus 2013; 24:424-35. [PMID: 24339333 DOI: 10.1002/hipo.22236] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2013] [Revised: 11/25/2013] [Accepted: 12/02/2013] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Adolescence is characterized by important molecular and anatomical changes with relevance for the maturation of brain circuitry and cognitive function. This time period is of critical importance in the emergence of several neuropsychiatric disorders accompanied by cognitive impairment, such as affective disorders and schizophrenia. The molecular mechanisms underlying these changes at neuronal level during this specific developmental stage remains however poorly understood. GluA1-containing AMPA receptors, which are located predominantly on hippocampal neurons, are the primary molecular determinants of synaptic plasticity. We investigated here the consequences of the inducible deletion of GluA1 AMPA receptors in glutamatergic neurons during late adolescence. We generated mutant mice with a tamoxifen-inducible deletion of GluA1 under the control of the CamKII promoter for temporally and spatially restricted gene manipulation. GluA1 ablation during late adolescence induced cognitive impairments, but also marked hyperlocomotion and sensorimotor gating deficits. Unlike the global genetic deletion of GluA1, inducible GluA1 ablation during late adolescence resulted in normal sociability. Deletion of GluA1 induced redistribution of GluA2 subunits, suggesting AMPA receptor trafficking deficits. Mutant animals showed increased hippocampal NMDA receptor expression and no change in striatal dopamine concentration. Our data provide new insight into the role of deficient AMPA receptors specifically during late adolescence in inducing several cognitive and behavioral alterations with possible relevance for neuropsychiatric disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dragos Inta
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, RG Animal Models in Psychiatry, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim/Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
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