title: Visuospatial working memory is impaired in an animal model of schizophrenia induced by acute MK-801: an effect of pretraining.
abstract: Deficient working memory was proposed as an endophenotype of schizophrenia. Such deficits are also commonly found in animal models of schizophrenia-like behavior of various origins. An allothetic place avoidance alternation task was proposed as a behavioral test of visuospatial working memory. This study tested the hypothesis that working memory in this test would be impaired by acute pre-test treatment with MK-801 (dizocilpine) in an animal model possessing high phenomenological and predictive validity. Furthermore, the study sought to determine the effect of pretraining to the task prior to treatment on the subsequent learning in the animal model. The results show that both doses of MK-801 (0.12 mg/kg and 0.15 mg/kg) significantly impaired working memory in the alternation paradigm, and both doses also increased locomotor activity. Notably, in previously pretrained animals, the significant effect of MK-801 on working memory was absent, despite persistent hyperlocomotion. These results showed that a deficit in working memory was detectable in this animal model of schizophrenia-like behavior, but its occurrence depended on the previous experience of animals with familiarization in the task.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physiology Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Videnska 1083, 14220 Prague, Czech Republic. zemanovaa@email.cz
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zemanova
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stankova
authors.forename: Veronika
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lobellova
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Svoboda
authors.forename: Karel
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Vales
authors.forename: Kamil
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Vlcek
authors.forename: Stepan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kubik
authors.forename: Iveta
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Fajnerova
authors.forename: Ales
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stuchlik
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D016291:Dizocilpine Maleate / Q000633:toxicity*; D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists / Q000633:toxicity*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000503:physiopathology*
chemical_list: D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists; D016291:Dizocilpine Maleate