Journal
BEHAVIOURAL BRAIN RESEARCH
Volume 403, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2021.113140
Keywords
Autism spectrum disorders; Animal model; Spatial learning; Non-spatial pretraining; Morris water maze; Short chain fatty acid; Rat
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The research found that rats treated with propionic acid showed differences in spatial learning performance, with increased search latencies, longer distances traveled, fewer direct and circle swims, and more time spent in the periphery. This indicates that PPA treatment blocked the effects of the pretraining procedure, likely by impairing sensorimotor components or memory of the pretraining.
Propionic acid (PPA) is produced by enteric gut bacteria and is a dietary short chain fatty acid. Intracerebroventricular (ICV) infusions of PPA in rodents have been shown to produce behavioural changes, including adverse effects on cognition, similar to those seen in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Previous research has shown that repeated ICV infusions of PPA result in impaired spatial learning in a Morris water maze (MWM) as evidenced by increased search latencies, fewer direct and circle swims, and more time spent in the periphery of the maze than control rats. In the current study rats were first given non-spatial pretraining (NSP) in the water maze in order to familiarize the animals with the general requirements of the non-spatial aspects of the task before spatial training was begun. Then the effects of ICV infusions of PPA on acquisition of spatial learning were examined. PPA treated rats failed to show the positive effects of the non-spatial pretraining procedure, relative to controls, as evidenced by increased search latencies, longer distances travelled, fewer direct and circle swims, and more time spent in the periphery of the maze than PBS controls. Thus, PPA treatment blocked the effects of the pretraining procedure, likely by impairing sensorimotor components or memory of the pretraining.
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