Abstract Introduction A pressing issue in modern society, lack of sleep has detrimental health consequences, among which cognitive dysfunctions attract great attention. Although there is consensus about the harmful effects insufficient on vigilance and attention, still a debate memory susceptibility to acute chronic deprivation. Which types are more vulnerable remains unclear. We studied spatia...

Transgenic Tg2576 mice overexpressing human amyloid precursor protein (hAPP) are a widely used Alzheimer's disease (AD) mouse model to evaluate treatment effects on amyloid beta (Aβ) pathology and cognition. Tg2576 mice on a B6;SJL background strain carry a recessive rd1 mutation that leads to early retinal degeneration and visual impairment in homozygous carriers. This can impair performance i...

We investigated the effects of D-AP7 [D-(-)-2-amino-7-phosphonoheptanoic acid], a specific, potent antagonist of NMDA receptor on certain forms of behavior in control groups of rats and in rats submitted to hypoxia. D-AP7 given intracerebroventrically (icv) at a dose of 5 nmol was tested in the open field test, passive avoidance test and in elevated plus maze test. D-AP7 did not significantly c...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE In spite of its high disease burden, there is no specific treatment for multi-infarct dementia. The preclinical evaluation of candidate drugs is limited because an appropriate animal model is lacking. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate whether a mouse model of recurrent photothrombotic stroke is suitable for the preclinical investigation of multi-infarct dementia. METHODS ...

We attempted to test whether the effect of amygdaloid lesion on the response-to-change would be similar to that observed previously after hippocampal damage. Twelve rats with lesions in the cortico-basomedial region of the amygdala (CBM) and 20 sham operated controls were used. The experiment was conducted in a T-maze under two different conditions of stimulus presentation in trial 1. In the pa...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Despite a high incidence of poststroke dementia, there is no specific treatment for this condition. Because the evaluation of poststroke cognitive deficits in animal models of stroke is exceedingly challenging, the preclinical evaluation of candidate drugs is limited. We aimed to explore the impact of small cortical photothrombotic strokes on poststroke cognition, thereby...

The limbic thalamus, specifically the anterior thalamic nuclei (ATN), contains brain signals including that of head direction cells, which fire as a function of an animal's directional orientation in an environment. Recent work has suggested that this directional orientation information stemming from the ATN contributes to the generation of hippocampal and parahippocampal spatial representation...

The aim of the present study was to evaluate, by means of a temporal pattern analysis, rat’s behavior in the elevated plus maze test. A specific software called THEME has been used. On the basis of an ethogram encompassing 24 behavioral elements, results demonstrated that 14 components represented the 98% of the displayed activities. 145 different temporal patterns have been detected; length di...

Cognition is vital for carrying out behaviours required survival and reproduction. Cognitive performance varies between species, but also individuals within populations. While variation a prerequisite natural selection, selection does not act on traits in isolation. The extent to which cognitive covary with other aspects of phenotype (e.g. personality traits) may be important shaping evolutiona...

Using in vivo microdialysis, we measured hippocampal extracellular glucose concentrations in rats while they performed spontaneous alternation tests of spatial working memory in one of two mazes. Extracellular glucose levels in the hippocampus decreased by 32% below baseline during the test period on the more complex maze, but by a maximum of 11% on the less complex maze. Comparable decreases w...