Prepulse inhibition and latent inhibition deficits in Roman high-avoidance vs. Roman low-avoidance rats: Modeling schizophrenia-related features.

The aim of the present study was to obtain further evidence supporting the validity of a new genetically-based rat model for the study of schizophrenia-relevant symptoms. The Roman high- (RHA-I) and low-avoidance (RLA-I) inbred rats have been psychogenetically selected for their rapid versus extremely poor acquisition of the two-way avoidance task in the shuttle box and present two well-differentiated profiles regarding several traits related to anxiety, impulsivity and sensitivity to (dopaminergic) psychostimulants. In this study we have tested animals from both strains in two behavioral paradigms that are related to schizophrenia, i.

Association between prepulse inhibition of the startle response and latent inhibition of two-way avoidance acquisition: A study with heterogeneous NIH-HS rats.

This study presents the first evaluation of the associations between responses in two paradigms related to schizophrenia in the genetically heterogeneous NIH-HS rat stock. NIH-HS rats are a stock of genetically heterogeneous animals that have been derived from eight different inbred strains. A rotational breeding schedule has been followed for more than eighty generations, leading to a high level of genetic recombination that makes the NIH-HS rats a unique tool for studying the genetic basis of (biological, behavioral, disease-related) complex traits.

Practical Synthesis of alpha-Amino Acid N-Carboxy Anhydrides of Polyhydroxylated alpha-Amino Acids from beta-Lactam Frameworks. Model Studies toward the Synthesis of Directly Linked Peptidyl Nucleoside Antibiotics.

A straightforward method for the synthesis of polyhydroxylated alpha-amino acid N-carboxy anhydrides (NCAs) is described as the means by which short peptide segments comprised of a polyhydroxylated chain are easily affordable. The entire sequence lies in the preparation of nonracemic 3-hydroxy beta-lactams through the highly diastereoselective Staudinger reaction of hydroxyketene equivalents with chiral alpha-oxyaldehyde-derived imines, followed by TEMPO radical assisted cycloexpansion to the corresponding NCA and subsequent peptide coupling with alpha-amino acid esters. The method has been applied to the synthesis of short peptide segments derived from carbamoylpolyoxamic acid, some glycoglycines, as well as C(2) symmetric hydroxy amino acids.