The contextual fear conditioning deficit presented by spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) is not improved by mood stabilizers

Abstract

These data reinforce the absence of beneficial effects of mood stabilizers on the emotional context processing impairment modeled by SHR.

Sodium nitroprusside is effective in preventing and/or reversing the development of schizophrenia‐related behaviors in an animal model: The SHR strain

“…In contrast to the pharmacological schizophrenia animal models, the spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) strain presents spontaneous schizophrenia‐related behavioral abnormalities: increase in locomotion (modeling positive symptoms), decreased social interaction (mimicking negative symptoms), and deficits in contextual fear conditioning (an emotional memory task). These behavioral alterations are specifically improved by antipsychotics and aggravated by proschizophrenia manipulations . Additionally, the course of these behavioral abnormalities is in accordance with what is seen in the clinic: hyperlocomotion is presented only in adult SHRs while deficits in social interaction and in fear conditioning can be seen in 30‐ and 45‐day‐old SHRs, respectively (S.T.Niigaki, F.F.Peres, D.A.Gouvea, R.Levin, V.Almeida, N.D.Silva, M.C.Diana, M.A.Suiama, V.C.Abilio submitted).…”

“…Although schizophrenia-related behaviors acutely induced in pharmacological animal models are well-stablished, the SHR strain presents the advantage of developing schizophrenia-related behavioral abnormalities spontaneously. [14][15][16][17] Hence, the absence of effect of SNP presented herein might be related to a broader and more chronic mechanism underlying the behavioral abnormalities spontaneously displayed in this animal model when compared to the acute specific changes in the dopamine and NMDA neurotransmission induced by those pharmacological models. In this respect, an antipsychotic effect of SNP on the psychotic symptoms and on spatial working memory deficits in schizophrenia patients was not observed.…”

“…In contrast to the above‐mentioned data, SNP was not able to improve hyperlocomotion, deficits in social interaction and in contextual fear conditioning presented by the SHR strain when administered in the adulthood. Although schizophrenia‐related behaviors acutely induced in pharmacological animal models are well‐stablished, the SHR strain presents the advantage of developing schizophrenia‐related behavioral abnormalities spontaneously . Hence, the absence of effect of SNP presented herein might be related to a broader and more chronic mechanism underlying the behavioral abnormalities spontaneously displayed in this animal model when compared to the acute specific changes in the dopamine and NMDA neurotransmission induced by those pharmacological models.…”

“…These behavioral alterations are specifically improved by antipsychotics and aggravated by proschizophrenia manipulations. [14][15][16][17] Additionally, the course of these behavioral abnormalities is in accordance with what is seen in the clinic: hyperlocomotion is presented only in adult SHRs while deficits in social interaction and in fear conditioning can be seen in 30-and 45-day-old SHRs, respectively (S.T.Niigaki, F.F.Peres, D.A.Gouvea, R.Levin, V.Almeida, N.D.Silva, M.C.Diana, M.A.Suiama, V.C.Abilio submitted). Interestingly, cardiovascular comorbidities, including hypertension, are presented in schizophrenia patients.…”

Adverse neuropsychiatric development following perinatal brain injury: from a preclinical perspective

“…This paradigm is based on the fact that active interaction reflects motivation to interact and does not necessarily reflect the behaviour of both animals, while passive interaction depends on the pair. Moreover, the evaluation of active and passive interaction separately and for each animal of the pair allow the investigation of social behaviours between animals of different strains or drug treatments, increasing the repertoire of information originated from this task [260][261][262] . Briefly, pairs of unfamiliar rats or mice are simultaneously but placed apart in an unfamiliar arena (e.g.…”