Volumetric brain differences between the Roman rat strains: Neonatal handling effects, sensorimotor gating and working memory
Río-Álamos, Cristóbal (Austral University of Chile)
Piludu, Maria A. (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Psiquiatria i de Medicina Legal)
Gerbolés, Cristina (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Psiquiatria i de Medicina Legal)
Barroso, Didac (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Psiquiatria i de Medicina Legal)
Oliveras, Ignasi (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Psiquiatria i de Medicina Legal)
Sánchez-González, Ana (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Neurociències)
Cañete, Toni (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Neurociències)
Tapias-Espinosa, Carles (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Psiquiatria i de Medicina Legal)
Sampedro-Viana, Daniel (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Psiquiatria i de Medicina Legal)
Torrubia, Rafael (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Psiquiatria i de Medicina Legal)
Tobeña, Adolf 1950- (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Psiquiatria i de Medicina Legal)
Fernández-Teruel, Alberto (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Psiquiatria i de Medicina Legal)

Fecha:	2019
Resumen:	The present work was devoted to evaluate whether the differences between the Roman high-(RHA) and low-avoidance (RLA) rat strains in novelty-induced behavioural inhibition/disinhibition, sensorimotor gating (prepulse inhibition, PPI) and spatial learning/memory are paralleled by differences in the volume of relevant brain areas (measured through magnetic resonance image, MRI) related to these behavioural phenotypes. To that purpose, we conducted two experiments. Experiment 1 involved testing adult rats from both strains, either untreated (controls) or treated with neonatal handling (NH; administered during the first 21 days of life), in a novel object exploration test (NOE), in the elevated zero-maze test (ZM) of anxiety and in a PPI test, as well as measuring the volume of limbic and cortical brain regions (amygdala -Am-, hippocampus -Hc-, striatum -St-, medial prefrontal cortex -mPFc-, anterior cingulate cortex -ACC-, nucleus accumbens -NAc-, lateral ventricles -LV-). Experiment 2 consisted in submitting rats to NOE and PPI tests, and to several spatial learning/memory tasks using the Morris water maze. RHA rats show higher exploration of the novel object in the NOE test, lowered anxiety in the ZM and impaired PPI compared to RLA rats. RLAs display better spatial reference learning and memory. The results revealed that the RLA strain shows greater Hc, Am and mPFc volume than its RHA counterpart, whereas the latter presents dramatically enlarged lateral ventricles. NH treatment markedly enhanced NOE test exploration in RLA rats, improved PPI in RHA rats and impaired it in the RLA strain, and produced beneficial effects on spatial working memory mainly in RHA rats. NH treatment decreased Hc and Am volume in the RLA strain. The results are discussed in terms of the possible relationships of strain-related brain volumetric differences and the behavioral (anxiety-related and schizophrenia-relevant) traits differentiating both rat strains, and highlighting the novel findings that NH, an anxiety/stressreducing treatment, is for the first time shown to enduringly reduce Hc and Am volume in parallel to the decrease of anxiety and the impairment of sensorimotor gating in RLA rats.
Derechos:	Tots els drets reservats.
Lengua:	Anglès
Documento:	Article ; recerca ; Versió acceptada per publicar
Materia:	Anxiety ; Sensorimotor gating ; Spatial learning ; MRI ; Neonatal handling ; Roman rat strains
Publicado en:	Behavioural brain researchh, 2019 , ISSN 1872-7549

DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2018.12.033

42 p, 1.6 MB

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Documentos de investigación > Documentos de los grupos de investigación de la UAB > Centros y grupos de investigación (producción científica) > Ciencias de la salud y biociencias > Institut de Neurociències (INc)
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