title: Spatial pre-training attenuates hippocampal impairments in rats exposed to intermittent hypoxia.
abstract: Intermittent hypoxia (IH), such as occurs in sleep apnea, is associated with increased apoptosis and neurobehavioral impairments in rats. To determine whether pre-training (P) modifies the effect of IH on spatial learning, adult male rats were trained in a spatial version of the water maze, exposed to IH or room air (RA) for 14 days, and then trained in a novel spatial task. P-RA had lower initial pathlengths than naive RA (N-RA), which were similar in P-IH and N-IH, indicating an adverse effect of IH on retention of behavioral strategies to solve the maze. However, P-IH acquired the later spatial task faster than N-IH. Pre-training was associated with increased phosphorylation of the cAMP-response element binding protein (CREB) in the hippocampus. Further, IH-induced decreases in CREB phosphorylation were attenuated by pre-training. We conclude that prior exposure to the water maze behavioral requirements attenuates the behavioral deficits occurring after IH exposure.
authors.affiliation: Kosair Children's Hospital Research Institute, Department of Pediatrics, University of Louisville, Baxter Biomedical Research Building, Suite 321, 570 South Preston Street, Louisville, KY 40202, USA.
authors.forename: Barry W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Row
authors.forename: Aviv
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Goldbart
authors.forename: Evelyne
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gozal
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gozal
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017362:Cyclic AMP Response Element-Binding Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning; D010766:Phosphorylation; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013037:Spatial Behavior
chemical_list: D017362:Cyclic AMP Response Element-Binding Protein