Bank Voles Show More Impulsivity in IntelliCage Learning Tasks than Wood Mice

Impulsivity is a personality trait of healthy individuals, but in extreme forms common in mental disorders. Previous behavioral testing of wild-caught bank voles and wood mice suggested impulsiveness in bank voles. Here, we compared behavioral performance of bank voles and wood mice in tests for response control in the IntelliCage. In the reaction time task, a test similar to the five-choice serial-reaction time task (5CSRTT), bank voles made more premature responses. Impulsivity in the reaction time task was associated with smaller medial habenular nucleus in bank voles. Additional tests revealed reduced behavioral flexibility in the self-paced flexibility task in bank voles, but equal spatial and reversal learning in the chaining/reversal task in both species. Expression of immediate early gene Arc after behavioral testing was low in medial prefrontal cortex, but high in hypothalamic supraoptic and paraventricular nucleus in bank voles. Wood mice showed the opposite pattern. Numbers of Arc-positive cells in the dorsal hippocampus were higher in bank voles than wood mice. Due to continuous behavioral testing (24/7), associations between behavioral performance and Arc were rare. Corticosterone measurements at the end of experiments suggested that IntelliCage testing did not elicit a stress response in these wild rodents. In summary, habenular size differences and altered activation of brain areas after testing might indicate differently balanced activations of cortico-limbic and cortico-hypothalamic circuits in bank voles compared to wood mice. Behavioral performance of bank voles suggest that these rodents could be a natural animal model for investigating impulsive and perseverative behaviors.

Cell numbers in the reflected blade of CA3 and their relation to other hippocampal principal cell populations across seven species

The hippocampus of many mammals contains a histoarchitectural region that is not present in laboratory mice and rats-the reflected blade of the CA3 pyramidal cell layer. Pyramidal cells of the reflected blade do not extend dendrites into the hippocampal molecular layer, and recent evidence indicates that they, like the proximal CA3 pyramids in laboratory rats and mice, partially integrate functionally with the dentate circuitry in pattern separation. Quantitative assessments of phylogenetic or disease-related changes in the hippocampal structure and function treat the reflected blade heterogeneously. Depending on the ease with which it can be differentiated, it is either assigned to the dentate hilus or to the remainder of CA3. Here, we investigate the impact that the differential assignment of reflected blade neurons may have on the outcomes of quantitative comparisons. We find it to be massive. If reflected blade neurons are treated as a separate entity or pooled with dentate hilar cells, the quantitative makeup of hippocampal cell populations can differentiate between species in a taxonomically sensible way. Assigning reflected blade neurons to CA3 greatly diminishes the differentiating power of all hippocampal principal cell populations, which may point towards a quantitative hippocampal archetype. A heterogeneous assignment results in a differentiation pattern with little taxonomic semblance. The outcomes point towards the reflected blade as either a major potential player in hippocampal functional and structural differentiation or a region that may have cloaked that hippocampi are more similarly organized across species than generally believed.

Striatal Transcriptome Reveals Differences Between Cognitively Impaired and Unimpaired Aged Male Rats

Cognitive processes require striatal activity. The underlying molecular mechanisms are widely unknown. For this reason the striatal transcriptome of young (YM), aged cognitively impaired (OMB), and unimpaired (OMG) male rats was analyzed. The global comparison of transcripts reveal a higher number of differences between OMG and YM as compared to OMB and YM. Hierarchical clustering detects differences in up- and down-regulated gene clusters in OMG and OMB when compared to YM. In OMG we found more single genes to be specifically regulated in this group than in OMB when compared to young. These genes were considered as cognition specific, whereas genes shared in OMG and OMB were considered as age specific. OMB specific up-regulated genes are related to negative control of cell differentiation and transcription (Hopx), to phagocytosis (Cd202) and cell adhesion (Pcdhb21), whereas down-regulated genes are related to associative learning, behavioral fear response and synaptic transmission (Gabra5). OMG specific up-regulated genes are in the context of maintenance of transcription and estrogen receptor signaling (Padi2, Anxa3), signal transduction [Rassf4, Dock8)], sterol regulation (Srebf1), and complement activity (C4a, C4b). Down-regulated genes are related to lipid oxidation reduction processes (Far2) and positive regulation of axon extension (Islr2). These relations were supported by pathway analysis, which reveals cholesterol metabolism processes in both aged group and cholesterol biosynthesis specifically in OMG; adipogenesis and focal adhesion in OMB. In OMG glucuronidation, estrogen metabolism, inflammatory responses and TGF beta signaling where detected as specific for this group. Signal transduction of the sphingosine-1-phospate-receptor (S1P) receptor was the main pathway difference in the comparison of OMB and OMG with downregulated genes in the first group. This difference could also be observed in the OMB vs. YM comparison but not in the OMG vs. YM analysis. Thus, an up-regulation of cognition related genes could be observed in OMG compared to OMB rats. The S1P pathway discriminated between OMB and OMG as well as between OMB and OMG. Since this pathway has been described as essential for cognitive processes in the striatum of mice, it may, among steroid hormone signaling, significantly contribute to the maintenance of cognitive processes in OMG.

Age and cognitive status dependent differences in blood steroid and thyroid hormone concentrations in intact male rats

Background

Age-dependent alterations of hormonal states have been considered to be involved in age related decline of cognitive abilities. Most of the studies in animal models are based on hormonal substitution in adrenal- and/or gonadectomized rodents or infusion of steroid hormones in intact rats. Moreover, the manipulations have been done timely, closely related to test procedures, thus reflecting short-term hormonal mechanisms in the regulation of learning and memory. Here we studied whether more general states of steroid and thyroid hormone profiles, independent from acute experiences, may possibly reflect long-term learning capacity. A large cohort of aged (17–18 months) intact male rats were tested in a spatial hole-board learning task and a subset of inferior and superior learners was included into the analysis. Young male adult rats (16 weeks of age) were also tested. Four to 8 weeks after testing blood plasma samples were taken and hormone concentrations of a variety of steroid hormones were measured by gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry or radioimmunoassay (17β-estradiol, thyroid hormones).

Results

Aged good learners were similar to young rats in the behavioral task. Aged poor learners but not good learners showed higher levels of triiodothyronine (T3) as compared to young rats. Aged good learners had higher levels of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) than aged poor learning and young rats. Both aged good and poor learners showed significantly reduced levels of testosterone (T), 4-androstenedione (4A), androstanediol-3α,17β (AD), dihydrotestosterone (DHT), 17-hydroxyprogesterone (17OHP), higher levels of progesterone (Prog) and similar levels of 17β-estradiol (E2) as compared to young rats. The learning, but not the memory indices of all rats were significantly and positively correlated with levels of dihydrotestosterone, androstanediol-3α,17β and thyroxine (T4), when the impacts of age and cognitive division were eliminated by partial correlation analyses.

Conclusion

The correlation of hormone concentrations of individuals with individual behavior revealed a possible specific role of these androgen and thyroid hormones in a state of general preparedness to learn.

Moderate differences in common feeding diets change lipid composition in the hippocampal dentate gyrus and affect spatial cognitive flexibility in male rats

There is growing evidence that lipids play a fundamental role in neuronal plasticity and learning and memory. Effects of nutrition on brain lipid composition and neuronal functioning are known, but the feeding interventions are often severe and may not reflect nutritional effects below clinical relevance. Therefore, we tested two commercially available rat feeding diets with only moderate differences in the food compositions, a standard diet (gross energy metabolizable 12.8 MJ/kg) and a energy reduced diet (gross energy metabolizable 8.9 MJ/kg) on possible effects upon dentate gyrus lipid composition, spatial learning and memory in a water maze and corticosterone release (blood serum concentrations) in adult male rats. Rats were fed with the standard diet up to an age of 8 weeks. One group was further fed with the standard and another with the energy reduced diet until an age of 5 months. We did not found differences in serum corticosterone levels. We found group differences in a variety of lipids in the hippocampal dentate gyrus.. Most of the lipid levels were lower in energy reduced diets, namely glycerophosphoethanolamines, sphingomyelins and hexosyceramides, whereas some ceramides (Cer18:0 and Cer24:1) and glycerophosphocholines (PC34:3 and PC36:2) were upregulated compared to the standard diet group. The performance in a common reference memory water maze task was not different between groups, however during reversal learning (platform in a different position) after the initial training, the standard diet fed rats learned better and spatial memory was improved compared to the energy reduced diet group. Thus, moderate differences in feeding diets have effects specifically upon spatial cognitive flexibility. Possible relations between differences in lipid composition and cognitive flexibility are discussed.

Moderate Differences in Feeding Diets Largely Affect Motivation and Spatial Cognition in Adult and Aged but Less in Young Male Rats

Nutrition can have significant effects on behavior and cognitive processes. Most of the studies related to this use extremely modified diets, such as high fat contents or the exclusion of distinct components needed for normal development and bodily homeostasis. Here we report significant effects of diets with moderate differences in compositions on food rewarded spatial learning in young (3–4 months), adult (6–7 months), and aged (17–18 months) rats. Young rats fed with a lower energy diet showed better performance only during aquisition of the spatial task when compared to rats fed with a standard diet. Adult rats (6–7 months) fed with a standard diet performed less well in the spatial learning task, than rats fed with lower energy diet. Aged rats fed with a lower energy diet (from 13 to 18 months of age) performed better during all training phases, as in a previous test when they were adult and fed with a standard diet. This difference could only be partly explained by lower motivation to search for food in the first test. Correspondingly, the variability of individual performance was significantly higher and increased over trials in adult rats fed with the standard diet as compared to adult rats fed with lower energy diet. Thus, moderate changes in feeding diets have large effects on motivation and cognition in elderly and less in young rats in a food rewarded spatial learning task. Therefore, nutrition effects upon food rewarded spatial learning and memory should be considered especially in aging studies.

Spatial Working Memory in Male Rats: Pre-Experience and Task Dependent Roles of Dopamine D1- and D2-Like Receptors

The dopaminergic system is known to be involved in working memory processed by several brain regions like prefrontal cortex (PFC), hippocampus, striatum. In an earlier study we could show that Levodopa but not Modafinil enhanced working memory in a T-maze only during the early phase of training (day 3), whereas the later phase remained unaffected. Rats treated with a higher dose performed better than low dose treated rats. Here we could more specifically segregate the contributions of dopamine type 1- and 2- like receptors (D1R; D2R) to the training state dependent modulation of spatial working memory by intracerebroventricular (ICV) application of a D1R-like (SKF81297) and D2R-like agonist (Sumanirole) and antagonist (SCH23390, Remoxipride) at a low and high dose through 3 days of training. The D1R-like-agonist at both doses enhanced working memory at day 1 but only in the low dose treated rats enhancement persists over training compared to control rats. Rats treated with a high dose of a D1R-like-antagonist show persistent enhancement of working memory over training, whereas in low dose treated rats no statistical difference at any time point could be determined compared to controls. The D2R-like-agonist at both doses does not show an effect at any time point when compared to control animals, whereas the D2R-like antagonist at a low dose enhanced working memory at day 2. For the most effective D1R-like agonist, we repeated the experiments in a water maze working memory task, to test for task dependent differences in working memory modulations. Treated rats at both doses did not differ as compared to controls, but the temporal behavioral performance of all groups was different compared to T-maze trained rats. The results are in line with the view that spatial working memory is optimized within a limited range of dopaminergic transmission, however suggest that these ranges vary during spatial training.

Effects of Estradiol on Histological Parameters and Secretory Ability of Pituitary Mammotrophs in Ovariectomized Female Rats

Objective

Estrogen replacement therapy remains current as a therapeutic approach to treat menopausal symptoms and may significantly affect hormone-producing cells in the female pituitaries. The aim of this study was to examine the histological parameters of pituitary mammotrophs and prolactin secretion after chronic estradiol treatment in ovariectomized adult female rats, reflecting premature menopause.

Materials and Methods

In this experimental study, adult female Wistar rats were divided into non-ovariectomized (C), ovariectomized (OVX) and estradiol-treated ovariectomized (OVX+E) groups. Estradiol dipropionate [0.625 mg/kg body mass per day] was administered for four weeks, while the C and OVX groups received vehicle alone. Mammotrophs were identified by the peroxidase-antiperoxidase (PAP) immunohistochemical procedure, while prolactin concentrations were measured by the non-isotopic two-step assay (Delfia) method. Comparison of the differences between groups was performed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukay (honest significant difference) HSD test.

Results

Ovariectomy caused significant (P<0.05) decreases in mammotroph optical density (OD), volume density (V_V) and number per mm² by 29, 27 and 34%, respectively, in comparison with the C females. In the OVX+E group, significant (P<0.05) increases in OD, cell volume, V_Vand number of mammotrophs per mm² by 181, 15%, 5.8-fold and 5.2-fold, respectively, were observed when compared to OVX animals. The serum prolactin concentration in OVX females was significantly (P<0.05) decreased by 14% in comparison to the C group, while in OVX+E females, prolactin levels were significantly (P<0.05) increased by 53% compared to the OVX controls.

Conclusion

Estradiol supplementation in ovariectomized females is followed by stimulatory histological and secretory changes of the mammotrophs. These results could serve as indicators of possible prolactinome development upon estradiol application in premature menopausal subjects.