A proteomic study to unveil lead toxicity-induced memory impairments invoked by synaptic dysregulation.

Unlabelled: Lead (Pb), a ubiquitously present heavy metal toxin, has various detrimental effects on memory and cognition. However, the molecular processes affected by Pb causing structural and functional anomalies are still unclear. To explore this, we employed behavioral and proteomic approaches using rat pups exposed to lead acetate through maternal lactation from postnatal day 0 (P0) until weaning.

Altered Developmental Trajectory in Male and Female Rats in a Prenatal Valproic Acid Exposure Model of Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Early motor and sensory developmental delays precede Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnosis and may serve as early indicators of ASD. The literature on sensorimotor development in animal models is sparse, male centered, and has mixed findings. We characterized early development in a prenatal valproic acid (VPA) model of ASD and found sex-specific developmental delays in VPA rats.

Effects of early life stress during stress hyporesponsive period (SHRP) on anxiety and curiosity in adolescent rats.

Repeated exposure to adverse experiences in early life, termed Early Life Stress (ELS), can increase anxiety disorders later in life. Anxiety is directly associated with curiosity, a form of intrinsic drive state associated with increased novelty-seeking behaviour and risk taking for challenging opportunities and could probably modulate learning and memory. In humans, elevated curiosity during adolescence tends to elicit increased exploration, novelty seeking, high risk-taking behaviour and heightened emotionality.

Effect of early maternal separation stress on attention, spatial learning and social interaction behaviour.

Early life stress is known to influence affective and cognitive functions in later life but comprehensive explanation for the impact of early life stress on attentional functions, behavioural control and social behaviour is inadequate. The early life stress was induced by exposing rat pups to 6 h of maternal separation and isolation (MS) stress from postnatal days 4-14 i.e.

Cerebrospinal Fluid from Patients with Sporadic Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Induces Degeneration of Motor Neurons Derived from Human Embryonic Stem Cells.

Disease modeling has become challenging in the context of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), as obtaining viable spinal motor neurons from postmortem patient tissue is an unlikely possibility. Limitations in the animal models due to their phylogenetic distance from human species hamper the success of translating possible findings into therapeutic options. Accordingly, there is a need for developing humanized models as a lead towards identifying successful therapeutic possibilities.

Altered attentional processing in male and female rats in a prenatal valproic acid exposure model of autism spectrum disorder.

Unlabelled: Attention is foundational to efficient perception and optimal goal driven behavior. Intact attentional processing is crucial for the development of social and communication skills. Deficits in attention are therefore likely contributors to the core pathophysiology of autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Manganese- and 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium-induced neurotoxicity display differences in morphological, electrophysiological and genome-wide alterations: implications for idiopathic Parkinson's disease.

Idiopathic Parkinson's disease and manganese-induced atypical parkinsonism are characterized by movement disorder and nigrostriatal pathology. Although clinical features, brain region involved and responsiveness to levodopa distinguish both, differences at the neuronal level are largely unknown. We studied the morphological, neurophysiological and molecular differences in dopaminergic neurons exposed to the Parkinson's disease toxin 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium ion (MPP ) and manganese (Mn), followed by validation in the 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine and Mn mouse models.

Extinction of Contextual Fear with Timed Exposure to Enriched Environment: A Differential Effect.

Background: Extinction of fear memory depends on the environmental and emotional cues. Furthermore, consolidation of extinction is also dependent on the environmental exposure. But, the relationship of the time of the exposure to a variety of environmental cues is not well known.

Cholinergic immunotoxin 192 IgG-SAPORIN alters subicular theta-gamma activity and impairs spatial learning in rats.

Subiculum is an important structure of hippocampal formation and is a part of intra hippocampal network involved in spatial information processing. However, relatively very few studies are available in literature demonstrating the explicit role of subiculum in spatial information processing. The present study investigated the cholinergic modulation of subicular theta-gamma activity on spatial learning and memory functions in rats.

Functional connectivity from the amygdala to the hippocampus grows stronger after stress.

The cellular and molecular effects of stress on the amygdala are strikingly different compared with those in the hippocampus. Previous findings on stress-induced plasticity were based primarily on postmortem analysis within individual areas. However, little is known about how stress affects dynamic changes and interactions in neuronal activity between the two areas.

Generalisation of conditioned fear and its behavioural expression in mice.

Mice are favourite subjects in molecular and genetic memory research and frequently studied with classical fear conditioning paradigms that use an auditory cue (conditioned stimulus, CS(+)) to predict an aversive, unconditioned stimulus (US). Yet the conditions that control fear memory specificity and generalisation and their behavioural expression in such conditioned mice have not been analysed systematically. In the current study we addressed these issues in the most widely used mouse strain of behavioural genetics, C57Bl/6.

Amygdalar and hippocampal theta rhythm synchronization during fear memory retrieval.

The amygdalohippocampal circuit plays a pivotal role in Pavlovian fear memory. We simultaneously recorded electrical activity in the lateral amygdala (LA) and the CA1 area of the hippocampus in freely behaving fear-conditioned mice. Patterns of activity were related to fear behavior evoked by conditioned and indifferent sensory stimuli and contexts.