Motor and Hippocampal Dependent Spatial Learning and Reference Memory Assessment in a Transgenic Rat Model of Alzheimer's Disease with Stroke

Autor: Hayley J. Nell, David F. Cechetto, Jennifer. L. Au, Nina Weishaupt, Shawn N. Whitehead
Rok vydání: 2016
Předmět:
0301 basic medicine
Male
beam walk
General Chemical Engineering
Spatial Learning
Morris water navigation task
Hippocampus
General Biochemistry
Genetics and Molecular Biology
Task (project management)
Cell and Developmental Biology
03 medical and health sciences
Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor
Mice
0302 clinical medicine
Alzheimer Disease
cylinder task
medicine
Animals
rat
cardiovascular diseases
Maze Learning
Stroke
transgenic
Memory Disorders
General Immunology and Microbiology
business.industry
General Neuroscience
Motor control
Cognition
Alzheimer's disease
medicine.disease
stroke
Rats
Disease Models
Animal
030104 developmental biology
medicine.anatomical_structure
Memory
Short-Term
Medicine
Sensorimotor Cortex
Anatomy
Forelimb
Rats
Transgenic
business
Morris water maze
Neuroscience
030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Zdroj: Anatomy and Cell Biology Publications
ISSN: 1940-087X
DOI: 10.3791/53089-v
Popis: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a debilitating neurodegenerative disease that results in neurodegeneration and memory loss. While age is a major risk factor for AD, stroke has also been implicated as a risk factor and an exacerbating factor. The co-morbidity of stroke and AD results in worsened stroke-related motor control and AD-related cognitive deficits when compared to each condition alone. To model the combined condition of stroke and AD, a novel transgenic rat model of AD, with a mutated form of amyloid precursor protein (a key protein involved in the development of AD) incorporated into its DNA, is given a small unilateral striatal stroke. For a model with the combination of both stroke and AD, behavioral tests that assess stroke-related motor control, locomotion and AD-related cognitive function must be implemented. The cylinder task involves a cost-efficient, multipurpose apparatus that assesses spontaneous forelimb motor use. In this task, a rat is placed in a cylindrical apparatus, where the rat will spontaneously rear and contact the wall of the cylinder with its forelimbs. These contacts are considered forelimb motor use and quantified during video analysis after testing. Another cost-efficient motor task implemented is the beam-walk task, which assesses forelimb control, hindlimb control and locomotion. This task involves a rat walking across a wooden beam allowing for the assessment of limb motor control through analysis of forelimb slips, hindlimb slips and falls. Assessment of learning and memory is completed with Morris water maze for this behavioral paradigm. The protocol starts with spatial learning, whereby the rat locates a stationary hidden platform. After spatial learning, the platform is removed and both short-term and long-term spatial reference memory is assessed. All three of these tasks are sensitive to behavioral differences and completed within 28 days for this model, making this paradigm time-efficient and cost-efficient.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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