Extradural compression of the sensorimotor cortex delays the acquisition but not the recalling of a lever-pressing task in Wistar rats

The learning and recalling of a lever-press task (LPT) after brief unilateral extradural compression (EC) of the right sensorimotor cortex was studied in Wistar rats. All rats, regardless of the time-point for EC, were trained to lever press for food from D(day) 1 to D6. On D8, the position of the active lever was changed to the right side of the operant box and performance was tested until D14. Total and active lever presses, as well as % errors were used to analyse the performance. Rats submitted to EC 24h before initiating the LPT schedule (naive-compressed group) showed delayed task acquisition and impaired performance until D10. No significant impairments were detected by D3 on a beam-walking test, excluding paresis as the cause to the delay. Rats submitted to EC after they learned the LPT (trained-compressed group) showed only mildly impaired post-compression performance with no effects on the recalling of the task. Using a progressive ratio LPT, the maximum number of presses to obtain a food-pellet (breaking point) was significantly reduced 24 h after EC suggesting reduced motivation for the task early after brain injury. The delayed acquisition of the LPT in naive-compressed rats was accompanied by consistent cortical, striatal and thalamic degeneration detected by Fluoro-Jade and anti-glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) staining, whereas the improvement in the performance of this group was accompanied by a reduction of the cortical damage on D10. Recall of the LPT in trained-compressed rats was not altered by EC, suggesting the contribution of compensatory mechanisms. (c) 2005 Published by Elsevier B.V.