Yes / Rationale: Dopamine dysregulation in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) plays an important role in cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia. Sub-chronic phencyclidine (scPCP) treatment produces cognitive impairments in rodents and is a thoroughly validated animal model for cognitive deficits in schizophrenia. The aim of our study was to investigate the role of PFC dopamine in scPCP-induced deficits in a cognitive task of relevance to the disorder, novel object recognition (NOR).
Methods: Twelve adult female Lister Hooded rats received scPCP (2 mg/kg) or vehicle via the intraperitoneal route twice daily for seven days, followed by seven days washout. In vivo microdialysis was carried out prior to, during and following the NOR task.
Results: Vehicle rats successfully discriminated between novel and familiar objects and this was accompanied by a significant increase in dopamine in the PFC during the retention trial (P<0.01). scPCP produced a significant deficit in NOR (P<0.05 vs. control) and no PFC dopamine increase was observed. Conclusions: These data demonstrate an increase in dopamine during the retention trial in vehicle rats that was not observed in scPCP-treated rats accompanied by cognitive disruption in the scPCP group. This novel finding suggests a mechanism by which cognitive deficits are produced in this animal model and support its use for investigating disorders in which PFC dopamine is central to the pathophysiology.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/11616 |
| Date | 26 April 2017 |
| Creators | McLean, Samantha L., Harte, Michael K., Neill, Joanna C., Young, A.M.J. |
| Source Sets | Bradford Scholars |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Article, Accepted manuscript |
| Rights | © 2017 The Authors. Published by SAGE. Reproduced in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy., Unspecified |
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