A Modified Barnes Maze for Juvenile Rats.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Valibeigi N
PROVIDER: S-EPMC6294133 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:The neural bases of cognition may be greatly informed by relating temporally defined developmental changes in behavior with concurrent alterations in neural function. A robust improvement in performance in spatial learning and memory tasks occurs at 3 wk of age in rodents. We reported that the developmental increase of spontaneous alternation in a Y-maze was related to changes in temporal dynamics of fast glutamatergic synaptic transmission in the hippocampus. We also showed that, during allothetic behaviors in the Y-maze, network oscillation power increased at frequency bands known to support spatial learning and memory in adults. However, there are no discrete learning and memory phases during free exploration in the Y-maze. Thus, we adapted the Barnes maze for use with juvenile rats. Following a single platform exposure in dim light on the day before training (to encourage exploration), animals were trained on the subsequent 2 d in bright light to find a hidden escape box and then underwent a memory test 24 h later. During escape training, the older animals learned the task in 1 d, while the younger animals required 2 d and did not reach the performance of older animals. Long-term memory performance was also superior in the older animals. Thus, we have validated the use of the Barnes maze for this developmental period and established a timeline for the ontogeny of spatial navigation ability in this maze around 3 wk of age. Subsequent work will pair in vivo recording of hippocampal oscillations and single units with this task to help identify how hippocampal maturation might relate to performance improvements.
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Project description:Excessive and prolonged intake of highly palatable, high fat (HF) foods contributes to the pathogenesis of obesity, metabolic syndrome, and cognitive impairment. Exercise can restore energy homeostasis and suppress HF diet preference in rats. However, it is unclear if exercise confers similar protection against the detrimental outcomes associated with a chronic HF diet preference and feeding in both sexes. We used our wheel running (WR) and two-diet choice (chow vs. HF) paradigm to investigate the efficacy of exercise in reversing HF diet-associated metabolic and cognitive dysregulation in rats, hypothesizing that beneficial effects of exercise would be more pronounced in males. All WR rats showed HF diet avoidance upon running initiation, and males, but not females, had a prolonged reduction in HF diet preference. Moreover, exercise only improved glucose tolerance and insulin profile in males. Compared to sedentary controls, all WR rats improved learning to escape on the Barnes maze. Only WR females increased errors made during subsequent reversal learning trials, indicating a sex-dependent effect of exercise on behavioral flexibility. Taken together, our results suggest that exercise is more effective at attenuating HF-associated metabolic deficits in males, and highlights the importance of developing sex-specific treatment interventions for obesity and cognitive dysfunction.
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Project description:BACKGROUND: DIP (diaphanous interacting protein)/WISH (WASP interacting SH3 protein) is a protein involved in cytoskeletal signaling which regulates actin cytoskeleton dynamics and/or microtubules mainly through the activity of Rho-related proteins. Although it is well established that: 1) spine-head volumes change dynamically and reflect the strength of the synapse accompanying long-term functional plasticity of glutamatergic synaptic transmission and 2) actin organization is critically involved in spine formation, the involvement of DIP/WISH in these processes is unknown. RESULTS: We found that DIP/WISH-deficient hippocampal CA1 neurons exhibit enhanced long-term potentiation via modulation of both pre- and post-synaptic events. Consistent with these electrophysiological findings, DIP/WISH-deficient mice, particularly at a relatively young age, found the escape hole more rapidly in the Barnes maze test. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that DIP/WISH deletion improves performance in the Barnes maze test in mice probably through increased hippocampal long-term potentiation.
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Project description:The Barnes maze, a well-known spatial-learning paradigm, is based on the innate fear of rodents of large open spaces and their drive to hide. However, additional aversive stimuli (strong light and threatening sounds) are often necessary to provoke the hiding response while rendering the method cumbersome and more stressful. Our objective was to establish a Barnes maze-learning paradigm in mice using palatable food as a reward. After habituating male C57BL6/J or NMRI mice to the reward, the experimenter and the apparatus, either a slow (2 trials/day) or a massive conditioning schedule (4 trials/day), was run. Acquisition training was carried out until mice could locate the reward box with a maximum of one hole error. Then, the box was replaced to another location (reversal phase). Mice needed to relearn the new position with the same criterion. One week later, retention trials were performed. Both strains could reach the learning criteria; in the massive training within a shorter period. Spatial memory was demonstrated in the reversal and retention trials. Our results show that palatable food can be used as an efficient motivator to acquire allocentric navigation in the Barnes maze with the additional advantage of being less stressful.
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Project description:Human studies suggest that healthy social relationships benefit cognition, yet little is known about the underlying neural mechanisms of this protective effect. In rodents, studies on acute isolation and environmental enrichment (EE) confirm the importance of social exposure. Despite the widely recognized importance of sociality, however, rodent models have yet to explore the independent contributions of social housing divorced of other forms of enrichment. This study dissociates the effects of social and physical enrichment on spatial learning and memory from adulthood to old age. Rats were placed in either single or group housing, provided with ample enrichment, and tested at three time points on several phases/versions of the Barnes maze (BM) (standard, retention probes, variable location, and reversal). We found that sustained social housing enhanced cognitive flexibility, as evidenced by superior acquisition of task set (standard BM), adaptability to a new task set (variable BM), and improved reversal learning (reversal BM). Long-term retention (BM retention probes) of spatial memory was unaffected by housing conditions. Recent studies from our lab, including this report, are the first to show that social housing confers cognitive benefits beyond those of physical enrichment. Importantly, our experimental design is ideal for exploring the neural underpinnings of this socially induced cognitive protection. Understanding how sociality influences cognition will be invaluable to translational models of aging, neuropsychiatric disease, and neurological injury.
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Project description:A T-maze test is an experimental approach that is used in congenital research. However, the food reward-based protocol for the T-maze test in fish has low efficiency and a long training period. The aim of this study is to facilitate the T-maze conditions by using a combination of the principles of passive avoidance and a spatial memory test. In our modified T-maze settings, electric shock punishment (1-2 V, 0.3-0.5 mA) is given at the left arm, with a green cue at the right arm. Also, the depth of both arms of the T-maze was increased. The parameters measured in our T-maze design were latency, freezing time, and time spent in different areas of the T-maze. We validated the utility of our modified T-maze protocol by showing the consistent finding of memory impairment in ZnCl2-treated fish, which has been previously detected with the passive avoidance test. In addition, we also tested the spatial memory performance of leptin a (lepa) mutants which displayed an obesity phenotype. The results showed that although the learning and memory performance for lepa KO fish were similar to control fish, they displayed a higher freezing behavior during the training phase. In conclusion, we have established a modified T-maze protocol that can be used to evaluate the anxiety, learning, and memory capacity of adult zebrafish within three days, for the first time.
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