No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Despite nominally common mechanisms of action and often presumed biological equivalence, the NMDA antagonists tested produced very diverse effects on the expression of instrumental action. Other aspects of responding were left intact, including switching and matching behaviours, and the ability to respond to conditional stimuli. The implications of such findings with regard to animal modelling of schizophrenic psychotic symptoms are manifold.

Overall, the opportunity to induce a selective cognitive deficit in attention (5CSRT) or working memory (DMTP) in the rat is limited by both the NMDAR antagonist and the dose range used. The importance of a preclinical focus on ketamine, which is used more frequently in clinical settings, is limited by the extent to which cognitive effects can be both detected and quantified using this exposure regimen within these two operant assays.