TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of prenatal methylazoxymethanol acetate (MAM) treatment in rats on water maze performance
AU - Leng, Andreas
AU - Jongen-Rêlo, Ana L.
AU - Pothuizen, Helen H.J.
AU - Feldon, Joram
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by grants from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich. The authors express their gratitude to the animal facility team for the care of the animals, to Mr. Peter Schmid for the set-up and maintenance of the computerised systems for the behavioural analysis and finally to Mrs. Misa Kuper-Yamanaka for her editorial assistance.
PY - 2005/6/20
Y1 - 2005/6/20
N2 - Prenatal methylazoxymethanol acetate (MAM) treatment has been shown to induce morphological abnormalities in cortical areas of the offspring. Based on the neuroanatomical and behavioural abnormalities, this treatment has been suggested as a useful animal model for schizophrenia. In a previous study (Jongen-Rêlo AL, Leng A, Luber M, Pothuizen HHJ, Weber L, Feldon J. The prenatal methylazoxymethanol acetate treatment: a neurodevelopmental animal model for schizophrenia? Behav Brain Res 2004;149:159-81) we have studied MAM-treated animals in a series of behavioural tests related to schizophrenia, such as latent inhibition and pre-pulse inhibition of the acoustic startle response to establish the validity of prenatal MAM treatment (20 mg/kg i.p. on gestational days 9-15; MAM 9-MAM 15). We found that, apart from a marginal effect of increased activity in the open field, the MAM treatment on gestational day 15 was behaviourally ineffective. Here, we extended our previous study to a water maze experiment conducted in the same batch of animals as presented previously (MAM 12-MAM 15). MAM-treated animals showed similar water maze performance compared with control animals during the acquisition phase and the probe tests. However, during the reversal phase, MAM 15 animals showed impaired acquisition of the new platform location. This might indicate some cognitive deficits in MAM 15 animals in terms of working memory or behavioural flexibility. However, in combination with the lack of behavioural abnormalities of MAM 12-MAM 15 animals in several other tests related to schizophrenia in the previously reported study, the use of MAM treatment (MAM 12-MAM 15) as a valid model for schizophrenia still remains debatable.
AB - Prenatal methylazoxymethanol acetate (MAM) treatment has been shown to induce morphological abnormalities in cortical areas of the offspring. Based on the neuroanatomical and behavioural abnormalities, this treatment has been suggested as a useful animal model for schizophrenia. In a previous study (Jongen-Rêlo AL, Leng A, Luber M, Pothuizen HHJ, Weber L, Feldon J. The prenatal methylazoxymethanol acetate treatment: a neurodevelopmental animal model for schizophrenia? Behav Brain Res 2004;149:159-81) we have studied MAM-treated animals in a series of behavioural tests related to schizophrenia, such as latent inhibition and pre-pulse inhibition of the acoustic startle response to establish the validity of prenatal MAM treatment (20 mg/kg i.p. on gestational days 9-15; MAM 9-MAM 15). We found that, apart from a marginal effect of increased activity in the open field, the MAM treatment on gestational day 15 was behaviourally ineffective. Here, we extended our previous study to a water maze experiment conducted in the same batch of animals as presented previously (MAM 12-MAM 15). MAM-treated animals showed similar water maze performance compared with control animals during the acquisition phase and the probe tests. However, during the reversal phase, MAM 15 animals showed impaired acquisition of the new platform location. This might indicate some cognitive deficits in MAM 15 animals in terms of working memory or behavioural flexibility. However, in combination with the lack of behavioural abnormalities of MAM 12-MAM 15 animals in several other tests related to schizophrenia in the previously reported study, the use of MAM treatment (MAM 12-MAM 15) as a valid model for schizophrenia still remains debatable.
KW - Animal model
KW - Prenatal treatment
KW - Reversal learning
KW - Schizophrenia
KW - Spatial memory
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=19544382199&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.bbr.2005.02.016
DO - 10.1016/j.bbr.2005.02.016
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C2 - 15922056
AN - SCOPUS:19544382199
SN - 0166-4328
VL - 161
SP - 291
EP - 298
JO - Behavioural Brain Research
JF - Behavioural Brain Research
IS - 2
ER -