Enhancement of spatial learning by predator odor in mice: Involvement of amygdala and hippocampus

Galliot, Emmanuel; Levaillant, Maryline; Béard, Elidie; Millot, Jean-Louis; Pourié, Grégory

doi:10.1016/j.nlm.2009.09.011

Cited by 32 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…These findings are consistent with studies demonstrating that laboratory animals and humans with lesions in the striatum, amygdala, and corpus callosum present cognitive deficits (Block et al 1993; Sauerwein and Lassonde 1994; Galliot et al 2010; Chida et al 2011). A recent MRI study demonstrated that children exposed prenatally to CPF presented overt changes in the brain cortical structure, including reduced cortical thickness, which correlated with their cognitive deficits (Rauh et al, 2012).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Prenatal exposure of guinea pigs to the organophosphorus pesticide chlorpyrifos disrupts the structural and functional integrity of the brain

Mullins¹,

Xu²,

Pereira³

et al. 2015

NeuroToxicology

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This study was designed to test the hypothesis that prenatal exposure of guinea pigs to the organophosphorus (OP) pesticide chlorpyrifos (CPF) disrupts the structural and functional integrity of the brain. Pregnant guinea pigs were injected with chlorpyrifos (20 mg/kg, s.c.) or vehicle (peanut oil) once per day for ten consecutive days, starting approximately on the 50th day of gestation. Cognitive behavior of female offspring was examined starting at 40–45 post-natal days (PND) using the Morris Water Maze (MWM), and brain structural integrity was analyzed at PND 70 using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods, including T2-weighted anatomical scans and Diffusion Kurtosis Imaging (DKI). The offspring of exposed mothers had significantly decreased body weight and brain volume, particularly in the frontal regions of the brain including the striatum. Furthermore, the offspring demonstrated significant spatial learning deficits in MWM recall compared to the vehicle group. Diffusion measures revealed reduced white matter integrity within the striatum and amygdala that correlated with spatial learning performance. These findings reveal the lasting effect of pre-natal exposure to CPF as well as the danger of mother to child transmission of CPF in the environment.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Prenatal exposure of guinea pigs to the organophosphorus pesticide chlorpyrifos disrupts the structural and functional integrity of the brain

Mullins¹,

Xu²,

Pereira³

et al. 2015

NeuroToxicology

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“…However, chronic restraint stress as well as acute stress could also improve spatial learning (Bowman et al, 2001; Conrad et al, 2004; Kitraki et al, 2004). Stressed female mice by predator odor showed improved learning in the Morris water maze (Galliot et al, 2010) while acute restraint stress did not affect their performance on the CHB (ter Horst et al, 2013). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial learning of female mice: a role of the mineralocorticoid receptor during stress and the estrous cycle

Horst

Kentrop

Arp

et al. 2013

Front. Behav. Neurosci.

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Corticosterone facilitates behavioral adaptation to a novel experience in a coordinate manner via mineralocorticoid (MR) and glucocorticoid receptors (GR). Initially, MR mediates corticosterone action on appraisal processes, risk assessment and behavioral flexibility and then, GR activation promotes consolidation of the new information into memory. Here, we studied on the circular holeboard (CHB) the spatial performance of female mice with genetic deletion of MR from the forebrain (MRCaMKCre) and their wild type littermates (MRflox/flox mice) over the estrous cycle and in response to an acute stressor. The estrous cycle had no effect on the spatial performance of MRflox/flox mice and neither did the acute stressor. However, the MRCaMKCre mutants needed significantly more time to find the exit and made more hole visit errors than the MRflox/flox mice, especially when in proestrus and estrus. In addition, stressed MRCaMKCre mice in estrus had a shorter exit latency than the control estrus MRCaMKCre mice. About 70% of the female MRCaMKCre and MRflox/flox mice used a hippocampal (spatial, extra maze cues) rather than the caudate nucleus (stimulate-response, S-R, intra-maze cue) strategy and this preference did neither change over the estrous cycle nor after stress. However, stressed MRCaMKCre mice using the S-R strategy needed significantly more time to find the exit hole as compared to the spatial strategy using mice suggesting that the MR could be needed for the stress-induced strategy switch toward a spatial strategy. In conclusion, the results suggest that loss of MR interferes with performance of a spatial task especially when estrogen levels are high suggesting a strong interaction between stress and sex hormones.

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“…Alternatively, it is also possible that the total protein changes in the amygdala could contribute to these observed behavioral changes. For instance, it has been established that amygdala activity is capable of mediating performance of hippocampal-dependent behavioral tasks (Galliot et al, 2010; McIntyre, Marriott, & Gold, 2003; Vafaei et al, 2007). Considering the extent to which amygdala function contributes to hippocampal-dependent processes, the protein changes in the present study may have relevance to the behavioral data.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Baclofen administration alters fear extinction and GABAergic protein levels

Heaney

Bolton

Murtishaw

et al. 2012

Neurobiology of Learning and Memory

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The investigation of GABAergic systems in learning and extinction has principally focused on ionotropic GABAA receptors. Less well characterized is the metabotropic GABAB receptor, which when activated, induces a more sustained inhibitory effect and has been implicated in regulating oscillatory activity. Few studies have been carried out utilizing GABAB ligands in learning, and investigations of GABAB in extinction have primarily focused on interactions with drugs of abuse. The current study examined changes in GABAB receptor function using the GABAB agonist baclofen (2mg/mL) or the GABAB antagonist phaclofen (0.3mg/mL) on trace cued and contextual fear conditioning and extinction. The compounds were either administered during training and throughout extinction in Experiment 1, or starting 24 hours after training and throughout extinction in Experiment 2. All drugs were administered 1mL/kg via intraperitoneal injection. These studies demonstrated that the administration of baclofen during training and extinction trials impaired animals’ ability to extinguish the fear association to the CS, whereas the animals that were administered baclofen starting 24 hours after training (Experiment 2) did display some extinction. Further, contextual fear extinction was impaired by baclofen in both experiments. Tissue analyses suggest the cued fear extinction deficit may be related to changes in the GABAB2 receptor subunit in the amygdala. The data in the present investigation demonstrate that GABAB receptors play an important role in trace cued and contextual fear extinction, and may function differently than GABAA receptors in learning, memory, and extinction.

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Enhancement of spatial learning by predator odor in mice: Involvement of amygdala and hippocampus

Cited by 32 publications

References 69 publications

Prenatal exposure of guinea pigs to the organophosphorus pesticide chlorpyrifos disrupts the structural and functional integrity of the brain

Prenatal exposure of guinea pigs to the organophosphorus pesticide chlorpyrifos disrupts the structural and functional integrity of the brain

Spatial learning of female mice: a role of the mineralocorticoid receptor during stress and the estrous cycle

Baclofen administration alters fear extinction and GABAergic protein levels

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