Environments predicting intermittent shortening access reduce operant performance but not home cage binge size in rats

Abstract.This study examined whether perinatal exposure to polluted eels (Anguilla anguilla L.) induces changes in the locomotor activity of offspring mice across lifespan (post-natal days (PNDs) 47 – 329), using the open field and the home cage activity tests. Dams were exposed during gestation and lactation, through diets enriched in eels naturally contaminated with pollutants including PCBs. Analysis of the eel muscle focused on the six non-dioxin-like (NDL) indicator PCBs (Σ6 NDL-PCBs: 28, 52, 101, 138, 153 and 180). Four groups of dams (n = 10 per group) received either a standard diet without eels or eels (0.8 mg/kg/day) containing 85, 216, or 400 ng/kg/day of ϵ6 NDL-PCBs. The open field test showed that early-life exposure to polluted eels increased locomotion in female offspring of exposed dams but not in males, compared to controls. This hyperlocomotion appeared later in life, at PNDs 195 and 329 (up to 32 % increase, p < 0.05). In addition, overactivity was observed in the home cage test at PND 305: exposed offspring females showed a faster overall locomotion speed (3.6 – 4.2 cm/s) than controls (2.9 cm/s, p <0.05); again, males remained unaffected. Covered distances in the home cage test were only elevated significantly in offspring females exposed to highest PCB concentrations (3411 ± 590 cm vs. 1377 ± 114 cm, p < 0.001). These results suggest that early-life exposure to polluted eels containing dietary contaminants including PCBs caused late, persistent and gender-dependent neurobehavioral hyperactive effects in offspring mice. Furthermore, female hyperactivity was associated with a significant inhibition of acetylcholinesterase activity in the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex.

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TSE Systems Workshop: Progress in automated multi-dimensional home cage phenotyping of mouse and rat models of human diseases

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e516222012-017 ◽

2010 ◽

Author(s):

W. Foerster ◽

H. Russig

Keyword(s):

Home Cage ◽

Human Diseases ◽

Rat Models

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Clever Sys behavior recognition technology and home cage behavior analysis

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e516242012-028 ◽

2011 ◽

Author(s):

V. Kobla ◽

Y. Liang

Keyword(s):

Behavior Analysis ◽

Home Cage ◽

Behavior Recognition

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Activity of hippcampectomized rats in home cage and novel situations

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e666632011-125 ◽

1965 ◽

Author(s):

Leonard E. Jarrard

Keyword(s):

Home Cage

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Operant Performance by Rats for Alcohol Reinforcement; A Comparison of Alcohol-Preferring and Nonpreferring Animals

Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol ◽

10.15288/qjsa.1964.25.226 ◽

1964 ◽

Vol 25 (2) ◽

pp. 226-234 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Nancy K. Mello ◽

Jack H. Mendelson

Keyword(s):

Operant Performance

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Cocaine induces paradigm-specific changes to the transcriptome within the ventral tegmental area

Neuropsychopharmacology ◽

10.1038/s41386-021-01031-4 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Rianne R. Campbell ◽

Siwei Chen ◽

Joy H. Beardwood ◽

Alberto J. López ◽

Lilyana V. Pham ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gene Expression ◽

Ventral Tegmental Area ◽

Home Cage ◽

Expression Patterns ◽

Energy Regulation ◽

Biological Processes ◽

Cocaine Exposure ◽

Self Administration ◽

Drug Reinforcement ◽

Ventral Tegmental

AbstractDuring the initial stages of drug use, cocaine-induced neuroadaptations within the ventral tegmental area (VTA) are critical for drug-associated cue learning and drug reinforcement processes. These neuroadaptations occur, in part, from alterations to the transcriptome. Although cocaine-induced transcriptional mechanisms within the VTA have been examined, various regimens and paradigms have been employed to examine candidate target genes. In order to identify key genes and biological processes regulating cocaine-induced processes, we employed genome-wide RNA-sequencing to analyze transcriptional profiles within the VTA from male mice that underwent one of four commonly used paradigms: acute home cage injections of cocaine, chronic home cage injections of cocaine, cocaine-conditioning, or intravenous-self administration of cocaine. We found that cocaine alters distinct sets of VTA genes within each exposure paradigm. Using behavioral measures from cocaine self-administering mice, we also found several genes whose expression patterns corelate with cocaine intake. In addition to overall gene expression levels, we identified several predicted upstream regulators of cocaine-induced transcription shared across all paradigms. Although distinct gene sets were altered across cocaine exposure paradigms, we found, from Gene Ontology (GO) term analysis, that biological processes important for energy regulation and synaptic plasticity were affected across all cocaine paradigms. Coexpression analysis also identified gene networks that are altered by cocaine. These data indicate that cocaine alters networks enriched with glial cell markers of the VTA that are involved in gene regulation and synaptic processes. Our analyses demonstrate that transcriptional changes within the VTA depend on the route, dose and context of cocaine exposure, and highlight several biological processes affected by cocaine. Overall, these findings provide a unique resource of gene expression data for future studies examining novel cocaine gene targets that regulate drug-associated behaviors.

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Location and temporal memory of objects declines in aged marmosets (Callithrix jacchus)

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-88357-7 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Vanessa De Castro ◽

Pascal Girard

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Aging ◽

Home Cage ◽

Building Blocks ◽

Memory Deficits ◽

Primate Model ◽

Memory Decline ◽

Temporal Memory ◽

Inter Trial Interval ◽

Real Objects ◽

Spontaneous Exploration

AbstractEpisodic memory decline is an early marker of cognitive aging in human. Although controversial in animals and called “episodic-like memory”, several models have been successfully developed, however they rarely focused on ageing. While marmoset is an emerging primate model in aging science, episodic-like memory has never been tested in this species and importantly in aged marmosets. Here, we examined if the recall of the what-when and what-where building blocks of episodic-like memory declines in ageing marmosets. We developed a naturalistic approach using spontaneous exploration of real objects by young and old marmosets in the home cage. We implemented a three-trial task with 1 week inter-trial interval. Two different sets of identical objects were presented in sample trials 1 and 2, respectively. For the test trial, two objects from each set were presented in a former position and two in a new one. We quantified the exploratory behaviour and calculated discrimination indices in a cohort of 20 marmosets. Young animals presented a preserved memory for combined what-where, and what-when components of the experiment, which declined with aging. These findings lead one to expect episodic-like memory deficits in aged marmosets.

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