title: Delayed alternation in adolescent and adult male and female rats.
abstract: The prefrontal cortex continues to develop throughout adolescence in several species, and our laboratory has demonstrated that during adolescence there is a decrease in neurons in the rat medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). A PFC-dependent task, the delayed alternation task, was used in the present study to examine the function of the mPFC while it is still maturing in rats of both sexes. A deficit was found in adolescents when compared to adults during 15- and 60-s delays but not at other delays (5, 10, 30, and 90 s). Furthermore, adolescents committed more perseverative errors. No significant sex differences occurred at any delay for either age group; however, in the no delay training sessions, adolescent males reached criterion faster than females. These results indicate that performance on a mPFC-dependent task improves between adolescence and adulthood.
authors: Department of Psychology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 735 Psychology Bldg, 603 E. Daniel Street, Champaign, Illinois 61820, USA.
authors: Wendy A
authors: WA
authors: Koss
authors: Andrew D
authors: AD
authors: Franklin
authors: Janice M
authors: JM
authors: Juraska
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans