title: Working memory impairment and reduced hippocampal and prefrontal cortex c-Fos expression in a rat model of cirrhosis.
abstract: Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a frequent neurological complication observed in patients with liver malfunction. Previous studies have shown memory impairment in these patients. In order to investigate brain substrates of spatial working memory impairment in chronic HE, neuronal expression of c-Fos protein was studied in an experimental model of cirrhosis. Control and cirrhotic rats were trained on a spatial working memory task in the Morris water maze (MWM). Differences between groups were found in the working memory task. Cirrhotic rats were unable to locate the platform in the retention trial. Neuronal activation, measured by c-Fos protein, was compared between groups. No differences were found in c-Fos expression of control and cirrhotic rats that were not tested in the MWM. Working memory task produced increase in c-Fos positive cells in dorsal hippocampus, CA1 and CA3, and prefrontal cortex in control group compared to thioacetamide group or naïve, which only swam in the maze during a similar time. These findings suggest that cirrhotic rats show spatial working memory impairment that could be linked to dysfunction in neuronal activity in prefrontal cortex and hippocampus.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Neurociencias, Departamento de Psicología, Universidad de Oviedo, Plaza Feijoo s/n, 33003 Oviedo, Spain.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Méndez
authors.forename: Magdalena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Méndez-López
authors.forename: Laudino
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: López
authors.forename: María A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Aller
authors.forename: Jaime
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Arias
authors.forename: Jorge L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Arias
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005355:Fibrosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000502:physiology*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000502:physiology; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000378:metabolism*; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar
chemical_list: D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos