title: Negative visuospatial priming in isolation-reared rats: Evidence of resistance to the disruptive effects of amphetamine.
abstract: Negative visuospatial priming (NP) represents a quantifiable measure of inhibitory information processing that is disrupted in several neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia. We developed a novel rodent NP task to investigate mechanisms underlying NP and its role in various disorders, and to test potential therapeutics. In the present studies, we further characterized this novel paradigm by investigating whether NP is disrupted in rats reared in isolation, a developmental manipulation that produces a range of abnormalities in behavior, neurochemistry, and brain structure that mirror aspects of schizophrenia pathology. We also further explored the role of monoaminergic signaling in NP and the effects of isolation rearing by challenging both socially reared and isolation-reared rats with D-amphetamine during the NP task. Although fewer isolation-reared animals learned the complex NP task, those that learned exhibited unaffected NP compared with socially reared rats. Consistent with previous reports, D-amphetamine impaired NP and increased motor impulsivity in socially reared rats. In contrast, D-amphetamine did not affect NP or motor impulsivity in isolation-reared rats. These data confirm a monoaminergic influence on NP behavior and indicate that rats reared in isolation have altered dopaminergic sensitivity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive MC 0804, La Jolla, CA, 92093-0804, USA.|Explora BioLabs, 3030 Bunker Hill Street, Suite 300, San Diego, CA, 92109, USA.
authors.forename: Nurith
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Amitai
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive MC 0804, La Jolla, CA, 92093-0804, USA.|Research Service, VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Powell
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive MC 0804, La Jolla, CA, 92093-0804, USA.|Neurodegeneration Labs, Department of Neuroscience, Genentech Inc., 1 DNA Way, South San Francisco, CA, 94080, USA.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive MC 0804, La Jolla, CA, 92093-0804, USA.
authors.forename: Neal R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Swerdlow
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive MC 0804, La Jolla, CA, 92093-0804, USA. jaredyoung@ucsd.edu.|Research Service, VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA, USA. jaredyoung@ucsd.edu.
authors.forename: Jared W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Young
mesh_terms: D000661:Amphetamine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D015331:Cohort Studies; D018765:Dopamine Uptake Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007175:Impulsive Behavior / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D011581:Psychological Tests; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans; D060865:Repetition Priming / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D055500:Resilience, Psychological / Q000187:drug effects; D012934:Social Isolation / Q000523:psychology*; D013028:Space Perception / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D018765:Dopamine Uptake Inhibitors; D000661:Amphetamine
keywords: Amphetamine; Information processing; Isolation rearing; Negative priming; Rats; Schizophrenia; Visuospatial priming