Borna disease virus-induced hippocampal dentate gyrus damage is associated with spatial learning and memory deficits.
In neonatally inoculated rats, Borna disease virus (BDV) leads to a persistent infection of the brain in the absence of an inflammatory response and is associated with neuroanatomic, developmental, physiologic, and behavioral abnormalities. One of the most dramatic sites of BDV-associated damage in the neonatal rat brain is the dentate gyrus, a neuroanatomic region believed to play a major role in spatial learning and memory. The absence of a generalized inflammatory response to neonatal BDV infection permits direct effects of viral damage to the dentate gyrus to be examined. In this report, neonatally BDV-infected rats at various stages of dentate gyrus degeneration were evaluated in the Morris water maze, a swimming test that assesses the rats' capacity to navigate by visual cues. Our data demonstrate progressive spatial learning and memory deficits in BDV-infected rats that coincided with a gradual decline in the estimated hippocampal dentate gyrus neuron density.
Rubin
S A
SA
DVP/OVRR/CBER/FDA, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
Sylves
P
P
Vogel
M
M
Pletnikov
M
M
Moran
T H
TH
Schwartz
G J
GJ
Carbone
K M
KM
D000818:Animals; D001890:Borna Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D018891:Dentate Gyrus / Q000473:pathology*; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D051381:Rats; D011917:Rats, Inbred Lew; D013550:Swimming