1) The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the task-oriented training according to the application time with the change of motor and cognition function. Focal ischemic brain injury was produced in Sprague-Dawley rats (20 rats, 250±50 g) through middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAo). Before MCAo induction, all rats were trained in treadmill training and Morris water maze tr...

The role of lateral septal vasopressin (VP) in the modulation of spatial memory, social memory, and anxiety-related behavior was studied in adult, male Wistar rats. Animals were equipped with osmotic minipumps delivering the VP-antagonist d(CH2)5-D-Tyr(Et)VAVP (1 ng/0.5 microl per h) bilaterally into the lateral septum (LS). Subsequently, all rats were subjected to four behavioral tests. First,...

In a number of species, males appear to have spatial abilities that are superior to those of females. The favored explanation for this cognitive difference is hormonal: higher testosterone levels in males than in females. An alternative explanation focuses on the role of varying levels of estrogens in females during the estrus cycle; females perform as well as males on days of low estrogen, but...

In order to investigate if the experiment-time affects cognitive performance in aged rats in different learning and memory behavioral tests, the aged Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were divided into two groups randomly and subjected to open field test, Morris water maze test and social discrimination test. The experiment of one group was conducted in 8:00 - 11:00 AM (AM group), and the other group in...

Administration of a non-competitive NMDA antagonist dizocilpine (MK-801) was proposed to be an animal model of psychosis. NMDA-receptor blockade is accompanied by increased locomotion, behavioral deficits, and other changes resembling psychotic symptoms. However, the role of NMDA-receptors in organizing brain representations is not understood yet. We tested the effect of NMDA-receptor blockade ...

We developed a maternal fetal rat model to study the effects of isoflurane-induced neurotoxicity on the fetuses of pregnant rats exposed in utero. Pregnant rats at gestational day 14 were exposed to 1.3 or 3% isoflurane for 1h. At postnatal day 28, spatial learning and memory of the offspring were examined using the Morris Water Maze. The apoptosis was evaluated by caspase-3 immunohistochemistr...

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder and the AβPP/PS1 transgenic mouse model is a commonly used experimental model to mimic the pathological and cognitive impairments in AD. As a classic method to evaluate spatial learning and memory, the Morris water maze is widely applied to study the cognitive deficits in rodent AD models. However, the assay procedure is relat...

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 ...