The mammalian hippocampus continues to generate new neurons throughout life. Experiences such as exercise, anti-depressants, and stress regulate levels of neurogenesis. Exercise increases adult hippocampal neurogenesis and enhances behavioral performance on rotarod, contextual fear and water maze in rodents. To directly test whether intact neurogenesis is required for gains in behavioral perfor...

Objective: In addition to attention deficits and hyperactivity it is common for children with ADHD to display impaired fine and gross motor skills. The spontaneously hypertensive (SH) rat model of ADHD displays impaired motor learning [1]. We used this characteristic to study if the recently described acoustic noise benefit in learning in children with ADHD [2, 3] is also observed in the SH ra...

Evidence has emerged that suggests a link between motor deficits, obesity and many neurological disorders. However, the contributing genetic risk factors are poorly understood. Here we used the Collaborative Cross (CC), a large panel of newly inbred mice that captures 90% of the known variation among laboratory mice, to identify the genetic loci controlling rotarod performance and its relations...

The spontaneously hypertensive (SH) rat model of ADHD displays impaired motor learning. We used this characteristic to study if the recently described acoustic noise benefit in learning in children with ADHD is also observed in the SH rat model. SH rats and a Wistar control strain were trained in skilled reach and rotarod running under either ambient noise or in 75 dBA white noise. In other ani...

Lurcher mutant mice represent a model of olivocerebellar degeneration. They suffer from cerebellar ataxia and deterioration of cognitive functions. The aim of the work was to study the effect of repetitive enforced motor training on spatial learning ability and motor coordination in adult Lurcher mutant mice of the C57BI strain. Experimental mice were trained repetitively on a rotarod. Control ...

Several lines of evidence show that homocysteine (Hcy) levels are increased in blood and CSF of patients with Parkinson's disease. B vitamins are necessary for Hcy metabolism and their deficiencies cause hyperhomocysteinemia and neurodegeneration. In present study, effect of B vitamin supplementation on the severity of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-induced Parkinsonism was investigated. Rats were ...

The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) kinase is a critical regulator of mRNA translation and is suspected to be involved in various long-lasting forms of synaptic and behavioral plasticity. However, its role in motor learning and control has never been examined. This study investigated, in mice, the implication of mTOR in the learning processes associated with the accelerating rotarod task. ...

The genome of the Bacterial Artificial Chromosome (BAC) transgenic mouse model of Huntington’s Disease (BAC HD) contains the 170 kb human HTT locus modified by the addition of exon 1 with 97 mixed CAA-CAG repeats. BAC HD mice present robust behavioral deficits in both the open field and the accelerating rotarod tests, two standard behavioral assays of motor function. BAC HD mice, however, also ...

Ethanol-induced motor incoordination and subacute ataxia are widely reported. Damage to cerebellar Purkinje cells has not been described as a constant finding in studies addressing the alcoholic brain nor in experimental studies. The present study aimed to find out the changes in the count of cerebellar Purkinje cells and tests of motor coordination following chronic ethanol exposure in adult m...

Thirty-seven arylcyclohexylamines including phencyclidine (PCP) and derivatives, N[1-(2-thienyl)cyclohexyl]piperidine (TCP) and derivatives and N-[1-(2-benzo(b)thiophenyl)cyclohexyl]piperidine (BTCP) were assessed for their ability to inhibit [3H]PCP binding and [3H]dopamine ([3H]DA) synaptosomal uptake. Their pharmacological property (ataxia) was measured by means of the rotarod test. A very g...