Neuroscience 2005 Abstract
| Presentation Number: | 556.1 |
|---|---|
| Abstract Title: | Neonatal lesions of the ventral hippocampus lead to prefrontal cognitive deficits in juvenile and adult rats. |
| Authors: |
Marquis, J. P.*1
; Goulet, S.1
; Doré, F. Y.1
1Centre de recherche Université Laval Robert-Giffard, Québec, Canada |
| Primary Theme and Topics |
Disorders of the Nervous System - Cognitive, Emotional and Behavioral State Disorders -- Schizophrenia: Animal models |
| Secondary Theme and Topics | Cognition and Behavior<br />- Animal Cognition and Behavior<br />-- Executive function |
| Session: |
556. Schizophrenia: Developmental Models Poster |
| Presentation Time: | Monday, November 14, 2005 1:00 PM-2:00 PM |
| Location: | Washington Convention Center - Hall A-C, Board # TT15 |
| Keywords: | ANIMAL MODEL, SCHIZOPHRENIA, DEVELOPMENT, WORKING MEMORY |
One critical assumption of the neurodevelopmental rat model of schizophrenia is that neonatal lesions of the ventral hippocampus (VH) disrupt prefrontal cortex (PFc) maturation and result, once the brain is fully developed, in functional anomalies that are analogous to schizophrenic symptoms. In 2002, Lipska et al. demonstrated working memory deficits typical of a prefrontal, but not of a hippocampal, dysfunction in adult rats with neonatal VH lesions. To this day, the integrity of hippocampal and prefrontal cognitive functions remains to be assessed at an earlier stage of neural development. This experiment, which used two working memory tasks with variable delays (0, 5, 15, and 30 s), was conducted 1) to assess cognitive performance in rats with neonatal VH lesions before and after complete cerebral maturation and 2) to provide evidence as to which of the two candidate brain regions is involved. At postnatal day 6 (PND 6), male rats received bilateral microinjections of ibotenic acid (n = 9) or of saline (n = 9) in the VH. From PND 26 to PND 35, both groups of rats were tested on a spontaneous spatial T-maze alternation task and from PND 48 to PND 85, they were tested in a conditional discrimination learning task where a stimulus and a response location had to be paired. Results showed deficits in VH-lesioned rats at shorter delays (0 or 5 s) and at both developmental stages. A tendency to make perseverative errors in VH-lesioned rats could have yielded poor success in both tasks. The effect of delays as well as the presence of perseverative errors suggest an PFc dysfunction at the juvenile stage which persisted into adulthood. The compatibility of premature PFc impairment with the neurodevelopmental model of schizophrenia is discussed.
Supported by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)
Sample Citation:
[Authors]. [Abstract Title]. Program No. XXX.XX. 2005 Neuroscience Meeting Planner. Washington, DC: Society for Neuroscience, 2005. Online.
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