Long-term social recognition memory in adult male rats: factor analysis of the social and non-social behaviors

Moura, Paula J.; Meirelles, Sérgio Tadeu; Xavier, Gilberto Fernando

doi:10.1590/s0100-879x2010007500047

Cited by 20 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…In two different social contexts, they exhibited increased non-anogenital and decreased anogenital exploration, accompanied with a different profile of ultrasonic vocalizations. We cannot offer a definitive explanation for the different behavioral profile, but it should be noted that anogenital sniffing and licking is the major source of information enabling individual recognition in rats (Moura et al, 2010). We therefore hypothesize that the McGill rats were less motivated to establish the identity of their social partners, although otherwise willing to interact with them.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

The McGill Transgenic Rat Model of Alzheimer's Disease Displays Cognitive and Motor Impairments, Changes in Anxiety and Social Behavior, and Altered Circadian Activity

Petrásek

Vojtěchová

Lobellová

et al. 2018

Front. Aging Neurosci.

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The McGill-R-Thy1-APP transgenic rat is an animal model of the familial form of Alzheimer's disease (AD). This model mirrors several neuropathological hallmarks of the disease, including the accumulation of beta-amyloid and the formation of amyloid plaques (in homozygous animals only), neuroinflammation and the gradual deterioration of cognitive functions even prior to plaque formation, although it lacks the tauopathy observed in human victims of AD. The goal of the present study was a thorough characterization of the homozygous model with emphasis on its face validity in several domains of behavior known to be affected in AD patients, including cognitive functions, motor coordination, emotionality, sociability, and circadian activity patterns. On the behavioral level, we found normal locomotor activity in spontaneous exploration, but problems with balance and gait coordination, increased anxiety and severely impaired spatial cognition in 4–7 month old homozygous animals. The profile of social behavior and ultrasonic communication was altered in the McGill rats, without a general social withdrawal. McGill rats also exhibited changes in circadian profile, with a shorter free-running period and increased total activity during the subjective night, without signs of sleep disturbances during the inactive phase. Expression of circadian clock gene Bmal1 was found to be increased in the parietal cortex and cerebellum, while Nr1d1 expression was not changed. The clock-controlled gene Prok2 expression was found to be elevated in the parietal cortex and hippocampus, which might have contributed to the observed changes in circadian phenotype. We conclude that the phenotype in the McGill rat model is not restricted to the cognitive domain, but also includes gait problems, changes in emotionality, social behavior, and circadian profiles. Our findings show that the model should be useful for the development of new therapeutic approaches targeting not only memory decline but also other symptoms decreasing the quality of life of AD patients.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

The McGill Transgenic Rat Model of Alzheimer's Disease Displays Cognitive and Motor Impairments, Changes in Anxiety and Social Behavior, and Altered Circadian Activity

Petrásek

Vojtěchová

Lobellová

et al. 2018

Front. Aging Neurosci.

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“…PCA was used to examine patterns of intercorrelations between the variables studied as reported recently by our group (Menard et al, 2014b) and others (Chujo et al, 2013;Moura et al, 2010;van der Staay et al, 2009). Principal components produced by the orthogonal linear transformation of PCA are linear combinations of the original measures, on a new coordinate system, reflecting independent characteristics or dimensions underlying the correlation matrix (Menard et al, 2014b,van der Staay et al, 2009).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Glutamate presynaptic vesicular transporter and postsynaptic receptor levels correlate with spatial memory status in aging rat models

Ménard

Quirion

Vigneault

et al. 2015

Neurobiology of Aging

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In humans, memory capacities are generally affected with aging, even without any reported neurologic disorders. The mechanisms behind cognitive decline are not well understood. We studied here whether postsynaptic glutamate receptor and presynaptic vesicular glutamate transporters (VGLUTs) levels may change in the course of aging and be related to cognitive abilities using various age-impaired (AI) or age-unimpaired rat strains. Twenty-four-month-old Long-Evans (LE) rats with intact spatial memory maintained postsynaptic ionotropic glutamate receptor levels in the hippocampal-adjacent cortex similar to those of young animals. In contrast, AI rats showed significantly reduced expression of ionotropic glutamate receptor GluR2, NR2A and NR2B subunits. In AI LE rats, VGLUT1 and VGLUT2 levels were increased and negatively correlated with receptor levels as shown by principal component analysis and correlation matrices. We also investigated whether glutamatergic receptors and VGLUT levels were altered in the obesity-resistant LOU/C/Jall (LOU) rat strain which is characterized by intact memory despite aging. No difference was observed between 24-month-old LOU rats and their young counterparts. Taken together, the unaltered spatial memory performance of 24-month-old age-unimpaired LE and LOU rats suggests that intact coordination of the presynaptic and postsynaptic hippocampal-adjacent cortex glutamatergic networks may be important for successful cognitive aging. Accordingly, altered expression of presynaptic and postsynaptic glutamatergic components, such as in AI LE rats, could be considered a marker of age-related cognitive deficits.

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“…Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to examine patterns of intercorrelations between the variables (Moura et al, 2010). Principal components produced by PCA are linear combinations of the original measures reflecting independent characteristics (or dimensions) underlying the correlation matrix.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Glutamatergic signaling and low prodynorphin expression are associated with intact memory and reduced anxiety in rat models of healthy aging

Ménard

Quirion

Bouchard

et al. 2014

Front. Aging Neurosci.

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The LOU/C/Jall (LOU) rat strain is considered a model of healthy aging due to its increased longevity, maintenance of stable body weight (BW) throughout life and low incidence of age-related diseases. However, aging LOU rat cognitive and anxiety status has yet to be investigated. In the present study, male and female LOU rat cognitive performances (6-42 months) were assessed using novel object recognition and Morris Water Maze tasks. Recognition memory remained intact in all LOU rats up to 42 months of age. As for spatial memory, old LOU rat performed similarly as young animals for learning acquisition, reversal learning, and retention. While LOU rat BW remained stable despite aging, 20-month-old ad-libitum-fed (OAL) male Sprague Dawley rats become obese. We determined if long-term caloric restriction (LTCR) prevents age-related BW increase and cognitive deficits in this rat strain, as observed in the obesity-resistant LOU rats. Compared to young animals, recognition memory was impaired in OAL but intact in 20-month-old calorie-restricted (OCR) rats. Similarly, OAL spatial learning acquisition was impaired but LTCR prevented the deficits. Exacerbated stress responses may favor age-related cognitive decline. In the elevated plus maze and open field tasks, LOU and OCR rats exhibited high levels of exploratory activity whereas OAL rats displayed anxious behaviors. Expression of prodynorphin (Pdyn), an endogenous peptide involved in stress-related memory impairments, was increased in the hippocampus of OAL rats. Group 1 metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 and immediate early genes Homer 1a and Arc expression, both associated with successful cognitive aging, were unaltered in aging LOU rats but lower in OAL than OCR rats. Altogether, our results, supported by principal component analysis and correlation matrix, suggest that intact memory and low anxiety are associated with glutamatergic signaling and low Pdyn expression in the hippocampus of non-obese aging rats.

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Long-term social recognition memory in adult male rats: factor analysis of the social and non-social behaviors

Cited by 20 publications

References 26 publications

The McGill Transgenic Rat Model of Alzheimer's Disease Displays Cognitive and Motor Impairments, Changes in Anxiety and Social Behavior, and Altered Circadian Activity

The McGill Transgenic Rat Model of Alzheimer's Disease Displays Cognitive and Motor Impairments, Changes in Anxiety and Social Behavior, and Altered Circadian Activity

Glutamate presynaptic vesicular transporter and postsynaptic receptor levels correlate with spatial memory status in aging rat models

Glutamatergic signaling and low prodynorphin expression are associated with intact memory and reduced anxiety in rat models of healthy aging

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