title: The involvement of distraction in memory deficits induced by NMDAR antagonism: relevance to cognitive deficits in schizophrenia.
abstract: Recognition memory, impaired in neuropsychiatric conditions and currently untreated, may be assessed by the novel object recognition (NOR) task with robust impairments induced by sub-chronic treatment with the N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor antagonist phencyclidine (PCP). The aim of the present study was to investigate how sub-chronic PCP produces its effects in this task. Forty adult female rats received vehicle or PCP (2mg/kg i.p. twice daily for 7 days followed by 7 days washout). Rats completed a 3-min acquisition trial followed by differential inter-trial-interval (ITI) conditions (1 min in the home cage, 10s in the home cage, 1 min in the NOR test box in the presence of an unfamiliar object or 1 min in the NOR test box completely undisturbed) followed by a 3-min retention trial. Control rats spent significantly more time exploring the novel compared with the familiar object in retention. This effect was abolished in the sub-chronic PCP treated animals following all ITI conditions except in rats left completely undisturbed in the NOR test box for a 1 min ITI. The combined influence of sub-chronic PCP treatment and the effect of distraction provides further support for the validity of the NOR test in mimicking cognitive deficits of relevance to schizophrenia.
authors.affiliation: Manchester Pharmacy School, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PT, UK. Electronic address: Ben.grayson@manchester.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Ben
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Grayson
authors.affiliation: Manchester Pharmacy School, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PT, UK.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Adamson
authors.affiliation: Manchester Pharmacy School, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PT, UK.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Harte
authors.affiliation: Manchester Pharmacy School, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PT, UK.
authors.forename: Marianne
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Leger
authors.affiliation: Manchester Pharmacy School, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PT, UK.
authors.forename: Samuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Marsh
authors.affiliation: Manchester Pharmacy School, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PT, UK.
authors.forename: Chloe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Piercy
authors.affiliation: Manchester Pharmacy School, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PT, UK. Electronic address: Joanna.neill@manchester.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Joanna C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Neill
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists / Q000633:toxicity*; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000139:chemically induced*; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects; D010622:Phencyclidine / Q000633:toxicity*; D051381:Rats; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000187:drug effects*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists; D010622:Phencyclidine
keywords: Animal models; Cognition; Object recognition memory; Phencyclidine; Rat; Schizophrenia