The effects of acute Cannabis smoke or Δ9-THC injections on the trial-unique, nonmatching-to-location and five-choice serial reaction time tasks in male Long-Evans rats

Barnard, Ilne L; Onofrychuk, Timothy J.; Sandini, Thaísa Meira; McElroy, Dan L.; Zagzoog, Ayat; Roebuck, Andrew J.; Austin-Scott, Faith VL; Laprairie, Robert B.; Howland, John G.

doi:10.1016/j.nlm.2022.107624

Cited by 9 publications

(45 citation statements)

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“…We tested rats shortly after acute exposure to the smoke of either high-THC or high-CBDcontaining Cannabis buds using a validated paradigm (Barnard et al, 2022;Roebuck et al, 2022). We found that high-THC, but not high-CBD, smoke impaired performance of the tests in a stimuli-specific manner.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Cannabis bud preparation and acute smoke exposure protocol A high-THC (19.51%) and low-CBD (<0.07%) strain, Skywalker (Aphria Inc., Lemington, ON, lot #6216), and a high-CBD (12.98%) and low-THC (0.67%) strain, Treasure Island (Aphria Inc., Lemington, ON, lot #6812), were used for Cannabis smoke exposure as previously established (Barnard et al, 2022;Roebuck et al, 2022). All Cannabis was stored in light-protected containers at room temperature.…”

Section: Spontaneous Wmc Test Protocolmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To examine the brain regions and neural mechanisms underlying WM and WMC in different contexts, a variety of behavioral tasks can be employed. To examine visuospatial WM and WMC across a time delay, tasks like the Radial-Arm Maze (RAM), Barnes Maze, and operant delayed nonmatching-to-sample (DNMTS) and delayed-match (DMTS) tasks have been used (Barnard et al, 2022;Cowan, 2010;Daneman & Carpenter, 1980;Dudchenko, 2004;Dudchenko et al, 2013;Kirchner, 1958;Oomen et al, 2013;Scott et al, 2020;Vorhees & Williams, 2014;Wilhelm et al, 2013). To study odor based WMC, the Odor Span Task (OST) and tests that employ a nonmatch-to-sample-rules have often successfully been used (Dudchenko et al, 2000;Scott et al, 2020).…”

Section: Rats Demonstrate Novelty Preference In Both the Object-and O...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The WM impairments produced by Cannabis have been interpreted as a combination of disruptions in active maintenance, limited capacity, interference control, and flexible updating subconstructs of WM (Barch & Smith, 2008). In contrast, studies in rodents demonstrate both THC-mediated impairments and improvements in WM function (Barnard et al, 2022;Blaes et al, 2019;Bruijnzeel et al, 2016;de Melo et al, 2005;Goonawardena et al, 2010;Varvel et al, 2001). These inconsistent findings may be attributable to differences in the behavioral tasks used, cannabinoid dosage, exposure timelines, and routes of administration (Baglot et al, 2021;Hložek et al, 2017;Klausner & Dingell, 1971;Nguyen et al, 2016;Wiley et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A shortcoming in rodent literature is that traditional rodent WMC tests mimic n-back or recall WM tests used in humans that require a long training period, learned rules, and considerable experimental involvement (Barnard et al, 2022;Cowan, 2010;Daneman & Carpenter, 1980;Dudchenko, 2004;Dudchenko et al, 2013;Kirchner, 1958;Oomen et al, 2013;Scott et al, 2020;Vorhees & Williams, 2014;Wilhelm et al, 2013). Spontaneous recognition tests circumvent these weaknesses by relying on rodents' innate novelty seeking behavior as shown by preferential interaction with a novel stimulus after a delay (Broadbent et al, 2004;Ennaceur & Aggleton, 1994;Ennaceur & Delacour, 1988;Sannino et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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High-THCCannabissmoke impairs working memory capacity in spontaneous tests of novelty preference for objects and odors in rats

Barnard

Onofrychuk

Toderash

et al. 2023

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Working memory (WM) is an executive function that orchestrates the use of a limited amount of information, referred to as working memory capacity (WMC), in cognitive functions. In humans, Cannabis exposure impairs WM; however, it is unclear if Cannabis facilitates or impairs rodent WM. Existing literature also fails to address the effects of Cannabis exposure on rodent WMC using exposure paradigms that closely mirror patterns of human use. In the present study, WMC of rats was inferred by novelty preference after a short delay in spontaneous recognition-based tests. Either object or odor-based stimuli were used in different variations of the tests that present identical (IOT) and different (DOT) sets of stimuli (3 or 6) for low- and high-cognitive loads, respectively. Additionally, we present a human-machine hybrid (HYB) behavioral quantification approach which supplements stopwatch-based scoring with supervised machine learning (SML)-based classification, enabling behavioral data to be made publicly available. After validating the spontaneous tests, 6-item IOT and DOT tests with the HYB method were used to evaluate the impact of acute exposure to high-THC or high-CBD Cannabis smoke on novelty preference. Under control conditions, rats showed novelty preference in all test variations. We found that high-THC, but not high-CBD, Cannabis smoke exposure impaired novelty preference for objects under a high-cognitive load. Odor-based recognition deficits were seen under both low-, and high-cognitive loads only following high-THC smoke exposure. Ultimately, these data show that Cannabis smoke exposure impacts novelty preference in a load-dependent, and stimuli-specific manner.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Spontaneous Wmc Test Protocolmentioning

confidence: 99%