Impaired hippocampal activity at the goal zone on the place preference task in a DISC1 mouse model.
Learning deficit is a clinical feature of many mental disorders and is hypothesized to result from an inability to integrate information in neural systems. We showed that transgenic mice expressing a dominant-negative form of DISC1, a risk gene for neuropsychiatric disorders, exhibited impaired performance in a reward-place association task when combined with a mild isolation stress. CA1 cells in the mutant mice showed normal place cell properties, but their activity at the goal zone was diminished. This abnormality in hippocampal activity at the goal zone during the task may underlie the learning deficit observed in the DISC1 mutant mice.
Medical Innovation Center, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan. Electronic address: hayashi@tk.med.kyoto-u.ac.jp.
Yuichiro
Y
Hayashi
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA.
Akira
A
Sawa
Medical Innovation Center, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan. Electronic address: hikida@tk.med.kyoto-u.ac.jp.
Takatoshi
T
Hikida
D000818:Animals; D056547:CA1 Region, Hippocampal / Q000502:physiology*; D006040:Goals; D007858:Learning; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D012201:Reward; D012934:Social Isolation; D065853:Spatial Learning; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology
C498794:Disc1 protein, mouse; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins
DISC1; Hippocampus; Learning deficit; Mental disorder; Neural activity; Reward