title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor heterozygous mutant rats show selective cognitive changes and vulnerability to chronic corticosterone treatment.
abstract: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a widely expressed neurotrophin involved in neurodevelopment, neuroprotection and synaptic plasticity. It is also implicated in a range of psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Stress during adolescence/young adulthood can have long-term psychiatric and cognitive consequences, however it is unknown how altered BDNF signaling is involved in such effects. Here we investigated whether a congenital deficit in BDNF availability in rats increases vulnerability to the long-term effects of the stress hormone, corticosterone (CORT). Compared to wildtype (WT) littermates, BDNF heterozygous (HET) rats showed higher body weights and minor developmental changes, such as reduced relative brain and pituitary weight. These animals furthermore showed deficits in short-term spatial memory in the Y-maze and in prepulse inhibition and startle, but not in object-recognition memory. CORT treatment induced impairments in novel-object recognition memory in both genotypes but disrupted fear conditioning extinction learning in BDNF HET rats only. These results show selective behavioral changes in BDNF HET rats, at baseline or after chronic CORT treatment and add to our understanding of the role of BDNF and its interaction with stress. Importantly, this study demonstrates the utility of the BDNF HET rat in investigations into the pathophysiology of various psychiatric disorders.
authors.affiliation: Behavioural Neuroscience Laboratory, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gururajan
authors.affiliation: Behavioural Neuroscience Laboratory, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Hill
authors.affiliation: Behavioural Neuroscience Laboratory, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Australia; Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, University of Melbourne, Australia; School of Psychological Science, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. Electronic address: m.vandenbuuse@latrobe.edu.au.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: van den Buuse
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000172:deficiency* / Q000235:genetics; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D003345:Corticosterone / Q000633:toxicity*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005108:Extinction, Psychological / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D005239:Fear / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D009154:Mutation; D009929:Organ Size; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D055647:Rats, Transgenic; D020813:Receptor, trkB / Q000378:metabolism; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / Q000378:metabolism; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D013216:Reflex, Startle / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D065852:Spatial Memory / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*
chemical_list: D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate; D020813:Receptor, trkB; D003345:Corticosterone
keywords: BDNF heterozygous rat; brain-derived neurotrophic factor; cognition; schizophrenia