Incentive loss and hippocampal gene expression in inbred Roman high- (RHA-I) and Roman low- (RLA-I) avoidance rats.
Two recent microarray and qRT-PCR studies showed that inbred Roman high- (RHA-I, low anxiety and frustration vulnerability) and low-avoidance (RLA-I, high anxiety and frustration vulnerability) rats, psychogenetically selected on the basis of their divergence in two-way avoidance performance, differed in basal whole-brain and hippocampal expression of genes related to neurotransmission, emotion, stress, aversive learning, and drug seeking behavior. We have extended these studies by analyzing strain differences in hippocampal gene expression following a frustrative experience involving reward downshift, i.e. instrumental successive negative contrast (iSNC), a phenomenon in which the sudden reduction of an expected reward induces frustration/anxiety. Food-deprived male Roman rats were exposed to a reduction in the amount of solid food presented in the goal of a straight alley (from 12 pellets in "training" trials - i.e. preshift trials- to 2 pellets in "frustration testing" trials - i.e. postshift trials-). The iSNC effect, as measured by response latencies in the "postshift" trials, appeared only in RLA-I rats (i.e. higher response latencies in the 12-2 RLA-I group as compared to the 2-2 RLA-I control group in postshift trials). Two and a half hours after the "postshift" behavioral test, hippocampi were removed and stored (-80°C) until analysis. Microarray analysis of these hippocampi showed that four differentially-expressed, and qRT-PCR-validated genes (TAAR2, THAP1, PKD2L1, NANOS), have relevance for brain function and behavior, including schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, and drug addiction, thus showing the usefulness of Roman strains as a genetic model for research on the neurogenetic basis of frustration.
Department of Psychology, University of Jaén, Spain. Electronic address: m.sabariegoalmazan@gmail.com.
Marta
M
Sabariego
Ignacio
I
Morón
M José
MJ
Gómez
Rocío
R
Donaire
Adolf
A
Tobeña
Alberto
A
Fernández-Teruel
José A
JA
Martínez-Conejero
Francisco J
FJ
Esteban
Carmen
C
Torres
D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology*; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000502:physiology; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D003216:Conditioning, Operant / Q000502:physiology; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D005508:Food Deprivation; D005639:Frustration; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation / Q000235:genetics*; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D043562:Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D013045:Species Specificity; D050396:TRPP Cation Channels / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins; D043562:Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled; D050396:TRPP Cation Channels; D014157:Transcription Factors; C582399:THAP1 protein, rat
Frustration; Gene expression; Hippocampus; RT-PCR; Roman rat; cDNA microarray