Longitudinal MRI monitoring of brain damage in the neonatal ventral hippocampal lesion rat model of schizophrenia.
Rat with excitotoxic neonatal ventral hippocampal lesions (NVHL rats) is considered as a heuristic neurodevelopmental model for studying schizophrenia. Extensive study of this model is limited by the lack of clear validity criteria of such lesions and because ascertaining of the lesions is realized postmortem with histological examination after completing experiments. Here, in a first experiment, by assessing the locomotor response to amphetamine in adult NVHL rats, we further specify that the lesions must be bilateral and confined to the ventral hippocampus to obtain the validated behavioral phenotype. We then show a longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) protocol suitable for the detection of brain structural changes in NVHL rats. The T(2)-weighted images acquired in adult NVHL rats reveal the same structural changes as those appraised with histological protocol. Moreover, we demonstrate that the lesion status in adulthood can be accurately predicted from the T(2)-weighted images acquired in the juvenile period. As technical advantages, our MRI protocol makes possible to select animals according to lesion criteria as soon as in the juvenile period before long-lasting experiments and gives access in vivo to a quantitative parameter indicative of the lesion extent. Finally, we show that the lesion size increases only slightly between juvenile and adult periods. These latter results are discussed in the context of the specific postpubertal emergence of the behavioral deficits in NVHL rats.
Bertrand
Jean-Baptiste
JB
Institut Fédératif des Neurosciences de Lyon, 69677 Bron Cedex, France.
Langlois
Jean-Baptiste
JB
Bégou
Mélina
M
Volle
Julien
J
Brun
Philippe
P
d'Amato
Thierry
T
Saoud
Mohamed
M
Suaud-Chagny
Marie-Françoise
MF
D000375:Aging / Q000473:pathology; D000661:Amphetamine / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology*; D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants / Q000494:pharmacology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000293:injuries* / Q000473:pathology*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000473:pathology*
D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants; D000661:Amphetamine