title: Reduction of EEG theta power and changes in motor activity in rats treated with ceftriaxone.
abstract: The glutamate transporter GLT-1 is responsible for the largest proportion of total glutamate transport. Recently, it has been demonstrated that ceftriaxone (CEF) robustly increases GLT-1 expression. In addition, physiological studies have shown that GLT-1 up-regulation strongly affects synaptic plasticity, and leads to an impairment of the prepulse inhibition, a simple form of information processing, thus suggesting that GLT-1 over-expression may lead to dysfunctions of large populations of neurons. To test this possibility, we assessed whether CEF affects cortical electrical activity by using chronic electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings in male WKY rats. Spectral analysis showed that 8 days of CEF treatment resulted in a delayed reduction in EEG theta power (7-9 Hz) in both frontal and parietal derivations. This decrease peaked at day 10, i.e., 2 days after the end of treatment, and disappeared by day 16. In addition, we found that the same CEF treatment increased motor activity, especially when EEG changes are more prominent. Taken together, these data indicate that GLT-1 up-regulation, by modulating glutamatergic transmission, impairs the activity of widespread neural circuits. In addition, the increased motor activity and prepulse inhibition alterations previously described suggest that neural circuits involved in sensorimotor control are particularly sensitive to GLT-1 up-regulation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, Section of Neuroscience and Cell Biology, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bellesi
authors.forename: Vladyslav V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Vyazovskiy
authors.forename: Giulio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tononi
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cirelli
authors.forename: Fiorenzo
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Conti
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002443:Ceftriaxone / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods*; D004576:Electromyography / Q000379:methods; D027342:Excitatory Amino Acid Transporter 2 / Q000096:biosynthesis; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D008297:Male; D008954:Models, Biological; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000187:drug effects*; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D011921:Rats, Inbred WKY; D013569:Synapses / Q000378:metabolism; D014741:Video Recording
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D027342:Excitatory Amino Acid Transporter 2; C493395:Slc1a2 protein, rat; D002443:Ceftriaxone