Calhoon, G.G., & Brady, A.M.  (2006, April).  The effects of cognitive intervention in adolescence on behavioral abnormalities in a rat model of schizophrenia. Poster session presented at the Symposium for Young Neuroscientists and Professors of the Southeast (SYNAPSE), Davidson, NC.

Abstract

Clinical data suggest that schizophrenic patients who achieve high levels of education prior to onset of psychotic symptoms have better prognoses than patients who accomplished lower levels of education.  This raises the possibility that cognitive stimulation in adolescence may protect against the development of schizophrenic symptoms in adulthood.  The present study assessed the effects of cognitive intervention in adolescence on disrupted adult behaviors in a neurodevelopmental model of schizophrenia in rats.  Neonatal ventral hippocampus lesioned (NVHL) rats were trained in an attentional set-shifting task in the T-maze during adolescence, which served as the cognitive intervention.  Control NVHL rats were given equivalent time to explore the T-maze, but were not trained in the attentional set-shifting task.  In adulthood, rats were assessed for behaviors known to be disrupted in the model, including assessment of prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle response, social interaction, novelty-induced hyperlocomotion, and working memory in the radial arm maze.  NVHL rats displayed impaired prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle response compared to sham lesioned rats (p=.003).  In the social interaction task, NVHL rats exhibited decreased rearing and body contact (p=.001).  No differences between groups were found in novelty-induced hyperlocomotion.  Over 16 trials, lesioned rats performed worse in the radial arm maze task than shams, as indicated by total errors.  However, the performance of lesioned rats that had received cognitive intervention in adolescence was markedly improved (p=.032).  The results of the present study suggest that premorbid cognitive intervention may protect against the cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia.

View the poster (pdf format, 456KB)