title: Acute stress-induced impairment of spatial memory is associated with decreased expression of neural cell adhesion molecule in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is an extensive literature describing how stress disturbs cognitive processing and can exacerbate psychiatric disorders. There is, however, an insufficient understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in stress effects on brain and behavior.
  
  
  METHODS
  Rats were given spatial memory training in a hippocampus-dependent water maze task. We investigated how a fear-provoking experience (predator exposure) would affect their spatial memory and neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) levels in the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex (PFC), amygdala, and cerebellum.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Whereas the control (nonstress) group exhibited excellent memory for the hidden platform location in the water maze, the cat-exposed (stress) group exhibited a profound impairment of memory and a marked suppression of levels of the NCAM-180 isoform in the hippocampus. Predator stress produced a more global reduction of NCAM levels in the PFC but had no effect on NCAM levels in the amygdala and cerebellum.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This work provides a novel perspective into dynamic and structure-specific changes in the molecular events involved in learning, memory, and stress. The selective suppression of NCAM-180 in the hippocampus and the more general suppression of NCAM in the PFC provide insight into the mechanisms underlying the great sensitivity of these two structures to be disturbed by stress.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Behavioral Genetics, Brain Mind Institute, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland. carmen.sandi@epfl.ch
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sandi
authors.forename: James C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Woodson
authors.forename: Vernon F
authors.initials: VF
authors.lastname: Haynes
authors.forename: Collin R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Katia
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Touyarot
authors.forename: Miguel A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Lopez-Fernandez
authors.forename: César
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Venero
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Diamond
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015153:Blotting, Western; D001923:Brain Chemistry / Q000502:physiology; D002415:Cats; D003345:Corticosterone / Q000097:blood; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000502:physiology; D019006:Neural Cell Adhesion Molecules / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000523:psychology*
chemical_list: D019006:Neural Cell Adhesion Molecules; D003345:Corticosterone