Project Summary

Andre Fenton, Ph.D. (Young Investigator 2004) of the State University of New York, Downstate, plans to analyze cognitive function in a new rat model of schizophrenia. In this study, Dr. Fenton will collaborate with Dr. Weinberger's laboratory at NIMH, where the model, which involves giving the animal either a permanent or temporary neonatal lesion of the ventral hippocampus, was developed. The rats will be subjected to a series of novel place avoidance cognition tests as juveniles and adults. In previous work, inactivating one hippocampus of otherwise normal rats prevented place avoidance, only when the room and arena cues were disorganized by the continuous rotation, suggesting the task can detect cognitive disorganization. The TTX injection caused an altered dynamic pattern of hippocampal ensemble discharge in the uninjected hippocampus. Both a similar, specific cognitive impairment in place avoidance and the alteration of dynamical hippocampal discharge are expected if the neonatal ventral hippocampal lesion causes cognitive dysfunction and a disorganized functional organization of the hippocampal network.

Program Area: SCHIZOPHRENIA/PSYCHOTIC DISORDERS\Schizophrenia

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