Neonatal domoic acid treatment produces alterations to prepulse inhibition and latent inhibition in adult rats

Effects of Methylprednisolone on the Expression and Activity of Calpain Following Ischemia-Reperfusion Spinal Cord Injury in Rats

“…These sex differences are consistent with the re-sults of various studies in our laboratory that have shown sex-specific alterations in behavioural tests of social withdrawal [12], PPI [13], LI [14], and emotionality [37]. However, while sex differences have been consistently observed, the source of these differences is, as of yet, undetermined.…”

“…PND 8 -14) results in various behavioural abnormalities [12][13][14][15][16][17] that are consistent with those exhibited in existing animal models of schizophrenia. Thus, the current study was conducted to evaluate timing behaviour and TH immunoreactivity, two assessments that are relevant in further determining whether this early toxin treatment regime may show potential utility in capturing some endophe Analyses of data obtained during temporal memory testing revealed that adult DOM-treated females tested with the 96-hour delay directed a lower proportion of their total time spent exploring at the remote object, a finding consistent with studies demonstrating temporal memory dysfunction in the clinical population and in rodents following vasopressin 1-b receptor knockout [30], irreversible lesion of the mPFC [28], and reversible le-sions of the hippocampus [31]; all of which have relevance to schizophrenia.…”

“…For instance, KARs directly modulate mesoacccumbens neurons and serve a modulatory function for DA release in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) [10,11]. We have previously demonstrated that chronic exposure to low doses of domoic acid (DOM; a selective KAR agonist) during a critical period of brain development produces adult animals that demonstrate social withdrawal [12], deficient pre-pulse inhibition (PPI) [13] and latent inhibition (LI) [14], and increases in respon-siveness to novelty [15], which may arguably reflect negative, cognitive, and positive symptoms of schizo-phrenia, respectively. These observations, in conjunction with additional previously published data from our labo-ratory suggesting that early postnatal exposure to low-doses of DOM produce alterations in the functional in-tegrity of the mesocorticolimbic pathway [15][16][17] and altered cognitive functioning [17], are largely consistent with both clinical manifestations of schizophrenia and with those changes reported in existing animal models [18][19][20][21][22].…”

Preclinical Modeling of Exposure to a Global Marine Bio-Contaminant: Effects of In Utero Domoic Acid Exposure on Neonatal Behavior and Infant Memory

“…Despite cessation of DA exposure at birth, progressive damage to regions of the hippocampus have been documented over the first 30 days of postnatal life (Dakshinamurti et al, 1993). Results from a number of studies suggest that a single in-utero exposure can cause long-term changes in behavioral development, primarily targeting cognition, social behavior and emotionality and experimental results are frequently accompanied by gender-related differences in performance (Levin et al, 2005, Doucette et al, 2007Adams et al, 2008;Burt et al, 2008;Tanemura et al, 2009, Ryan et al, 2011Gill et al, 2012;Marriott et al, 2012, Zuloaga et al, 2016, Shiotani et al, 2017. Early postnatal exposure is associated with a time-dependent profile of neurotoxicity that is characterized by hyperactivity, stereotypic scratching, convulsions and death (Xi et al, 1997).…”

Alterations in Caspase-3 in Juvenile Rats Treated Neonatally with Domoic Acid

“…We have previously reported that, as adults, rats that were chronically exposed to very low doses of DOM during critical periods of CNS maturation, demonstrate persistent behavioural abnormalities that are consistent with those observed within the clinical population and that are homologous with those reported in other animal models of this disorder (reviewed in [27]). These behavioural abnormalities include deficits in PPI [28] and LI [29] memory dysfunction [30] [31] and social withdrawal [32]. Therefore, the current study was conducted in order to determine whether early exposure to domoate would alter apoptotic processes in the medial prefrontal cortext (mPFC) in pre-weanling rats, thus altering the normal course of CNS maturation.…”