In the present study we investigated the sex differences in the effect of adult long-term drug treatment on cognitive functions of Wistar rats, which were prenatally exposed to MA (5mg/kg) or saline. Cognitive functions were tested as an ability of spatial learning in the Morris Water Maze (MWM), which consisted of three types of tests: "Place Navigation Test"; "Probe Test", and "Memory Recall Test". Adult animals were injected daily, after completion of the last trial, either with saline or cocaine (COC; 5mg/kg), MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine; 5mg/kg), morphine (MOR; 5mg/kg), or delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC; 2mg/kg). Results revealed worsened MWM performance in female rats after drug treatment in adulthood. Not only were traditionally investigated parameters affected by drug treatment (latency of platform acquisition, search strategy, distance traveled), but also strategies used by animals (thigmotaxis, scanning). Analyses of search strategies observed in the Place Navigation Test, as well as in the Memory Recall Test, demonstrated variations in the percentage of time spent in thigmotaxis and scanning in females after treatment with COC, MDMA, MOR, and THC. Although we did not see a sensitizing effect of prenatal MA, in some cases the effect of drug treatment in adulthood differed depending on the prenatal drug exposure. The data presented in this study demonstrates that exposure to drugs with various mechanisms of action alters spatial abilities of female rats in the MWM. Alterations in the effect of adult drug treatment with reference to prenatal drug exposure were also found in the present study.
- MeSH
- Cognition drug effects MeSH
- Cocaine pharmacology MeSH
- Methamphetamine toxicity MeSH
- Morphine pharmacology MeSH
- N-Methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine pharmacology MeSH
- Random Allocation MeSH
- Sex Characteristics * MeSH
- Rats, Wistar MeSH
- Spatial Navigation drug effects MeSH
- Spatial Learning drug effects MeSH
- Psychological Tests MeSH
- Psychotropic Drugs pharmacology MeSH
- Pregnancy MeSH
- Dronabinol pharmacology MeSH
- Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects psychology MeSH
- Animals MeSH
- Check Tag
- Male MeSH
- Pregnancy MeSH
- Female MeSH
- Animals MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
Pro pacienty s demencí je charakteristická porucha soběstačnosti v důsledku postižení více kognitivních domén zahrnujících i prostorovou orientaci, která se dělí na tři základní komponenty závisející na odlišných mozkových strukturách: orientaci podle blízké značky, orientaci podle výchozí pozice těla a orientaci podle vzdálené značky. Cílem této studie bylo porovnat rozdíly v postižení těchto tří základních komponent prostorové orientace u nejčastějších demencí neurodegenerativní etiologie. Studie se zúčastnilo celkem 78 pacientů s degenerativními demencemi různé etiologie: s Alzheimerovou chorobou (n = 61), frontotemporální lobární degenerací (n = 9) a demencí s Lewyho tělísky (n = 8). Pacienti byli vyšetřeni v experimentálním zařízení Blue Velvet Arena, které umožňuje měřit výkon v každé ze tří základních komponent prostorové orientace, a následně byly jejich výsledky v jednotlivých testech vzájemně porovnávány. V testu orientace podle blízké orientační značky měla skupina pacientů s frontotemporální lobární degenerací lepší výkon než skupina s Alzheimerovou chorobou (p = 0,03) a demencí s Lewyho tělísky (p = 0,006). V testu orientace podle výchozí pozice měla skupina s demencí s Lewyho tělísky horší výkon než skupina s Alzheimerovou chorobou (p = 0,012) a pacienti s frontotemporální lobární degenerací (p = 0,012). V testu orientace podle vzdálené orientační značky jsme mezi skupinami nenalezli signifikatní rozdíly (p = 0,069). Naše výsledky ukazují nejmírnější postižení prostorové orientace u pacientů s frontotemporální lobární degenerací a nejvýraznější u pacientů s demencí s Lewyho tělísky. V postižení prostorové orientace u pacientů s Alzheimerovou chorobou, frontotemporální lobární degenerací a demencí s Lewyho tělísky existují specifické rozdíly, které lze změřit v experimentálním zařízení Blue Velvet Arena.
Impairment of multiple cognitive domains, including spatial navigation, leads to deterioration of self-sufficiency, a characteristic feature of patients with dementia. Spatial navigation is divided into three basic components that depend on different brain structures – navigation using a close orientation cue (cued), starting position of the body (egocentric) and distant orientation cue (allocentric). The aim of the study was to compare differences in impairment of these spatial navigation components in patients with the most common types of neurodegenerative dementias. In total, 78 patients with neurodegenerative dementias of various etiologies were divided into three groups: Alzheimer’s disease (AD, n = 61), frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD, n = 9) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB, n = 8). All subjects were examined in an experimental device called the Blue Velvet Arena that allows researchers to measure performance in each of the three navigation components. The results of the different tests were subsequently compared. In the cued navigation test, the FTLD group performed better than the AD (p = 0.03) and DLB (p = 0.006) groups. Furthermore, in the egocentric navigation test, the DLB group was outperformed by AD (p = 0.012) and FTLD (p = 0.012) groups. Finally, in the allocentric navigation test there were no differences among the groups (p = 0.069). Our results show that spatial navigation impairment may be least pronounced in FTLD patients and most pronounced in DLB patients. There are specific differences in spatial navigation impairment among patients with AD, FTLD and DLB that can be measured with the Blue Velvet Arena device.
- MeSH
- Alzheimer Disease MeSH
- Lewy Body Disease MeSH
- Dementia * classification complications physiopathology MeSH
- Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Brain physiology MeSH
- Neurodegenerative Diseases complications MeSH
- Neuropsychology MeSH
- Spatial Behavior * physiology MeSH
- Psychomotor Performance MeSH
- Aged, 80 and over MeSH
- Aged MeSH
- Statistics as Topic MeSH
- Educational Status MeSH
- Space Perception physiology MeSH
- Patient Selection MeSH
- Check Tag
- Humans MeSH
- Male MeSH
- Aged, 80 and over MeSH
- Aged MeSH
- Female MeSH
- Publication type
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
- MeSH
- Mental Competency MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Optical Rotation MeSH
- Sports MeSH
- Space Perception MeSH
- Check Tag
- Humans MeSH
- Publication type
- Comparative Study MeSH
Revised edition viii, 494 s. : il., tab., grafy ; 24 cm
- MeSH
- Differential Threshold MeSH
- Echolocation MeSH
- Sound Localization MeSH
- Psychophysics MeSH
- Hearing MeSH
- Conspectus
- Patologie. Klinická medicína
- NML Fields
- otorinolaryngologie
OBJECTIVE: We investigated the association between APOE ε4 status and spatial navigation in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and assessed the role of hippocampal volume in this association. METHOD: Participants were 74 patients with clinically confirmed aMCI (33 APOE ε4 noncarriers, 26 heterozygous, and 15 homozygous ε4 carriers). Body-centered (egocentric) and world-centered (allocentric) spatial navigation in a computerized human analogue of the Morris Water Maze was assessed. Brain MRI with subsequent automated hippocampal volumetry was included. RESULTS: Groups were similar in neuropsychological profile. Controlling for age, sex, education, and free memory recall, the APOE ε4 carriers performed more poorly on all spatial navigation subtasks (ps < .05). APOE ε4 homozygotes performed worse than heterozygotes (p = .021). Right hippocampal volume accounted for the differences in allocentric and delayed subtasks (ps > .05), but not in the egocentric subtask (p < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Using an easy-to-use, computer-based tool to assess spatial navigation, we found spatial navigation deficits to worsen in a dose-dependent manner as a function of APOE ε4 status. This was at least partially due to differences in right hippocampal volume.
- MeSH
- Amnesia complications genetics pathology MeSH
- Apolipoprotein E4 genetics MeSH
- Functional Laterality MeSH
- Hippocampus pathology MeSH
- Cognitive Dysfunction complications genetics pathology MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Neuropsychological Tests MeSH
- Computers MeSH
- Spatial Navigation physiology MeSH
- Spatial Learning physiology MeSH
- Aged, 80 and over MeSH
- Aged MeSH
- Check Tag
- Humans MeSH
- Male MeSH
- Aged, 80 and over MeSH
- Aged MeSH
- Female MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
Even though cognitive testing in animals is widespread, many issues remain open - for example the influence of behavioural parameters on cognitive performance, stability of cognitive performance upon repeated testing, or comparability of cognitive variables across different tasks (i.e. cross-contextual consistency). In this study we tested thirty six male Long Evans laboratory rats and assessed their cognitive performance in two standard tasks of spatial navigation - Active allothetic place avoidance and Morris water maze test. Using multivariate analyses, we detected different aspects of cognition within these complex tasks (the ability to learn fast, cognitive flexibility, general ability to solve a task successfully). We found that consistency of cognitive performance in these two tasks (estimates of cognitive repeatability) differed substantially, reflecting differences in the experimental procedures. Moreover, we inspected cognitive performance of the animals in more detail by creating a correlation matrix of factors derived from these procedures. Nevertheless, we found no correlation and therefore no indication of a general cognitive ability in spatial navigation using these two tasks. In addition, we found no link between personality and cognition when correlating cognitive performance of the animals with parameters from personality tests, which were derived from a previous study conducted on the same animals. These findings highlight a task-dependent nature of cognitive performance in these two tasks of spatial navigation and suggest that general cognitive ability in spatial navigation may not be reliably inferred from these two tasks, while also indicating no evident link between cognition and personality in this context.
- MeSH
- Maze Learning physiology MeSH
- Behavior, Animal physiology MeSH
- Cognition * physiology MeSH
- Rats MeSH
- Personality physiology MeSH
- Rats, Long-Evans MeSH
- Spatial Navigation * physiology MeSH
- Avoidance Learning physiology MeSH
- Animals MeSH
- Check Tag
- Rats MeSH
- Male MeSH
- Animals MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
