- 作者：Maria Lucia Gordan ; Bettina Jungwirth ; Frauke Ohl ; Kristine Kellermann ; Eberhard F. Kochs ; Manfred Blobner
- 关键词：Cerebral ischemia ; Motor deficit ; Neurocognitive dysfunction ; Morris water maze ; Modified hole board test ; Rat
- 刊名：Behavioural Brain Research
- 出版年：2012
- 出版时间：1 November, 2012
- 年：2012
- 卷：235
- 期：1
- 页码：7-20
- 全文大小：985 K
Objective
While histological injury following cerebral ischemia has been extensively characterized in rodents, evidence on the effects on executive functioning is still missing. This study was designed to evaluate neuropsychological outcome following different severities of cerebral ischemia in rats with the modified hole board test or the Morris water maze.Setting
With institutional review board approval, anesthetized rats were exposed to bilateral carotid artery occlusion (BCAO) for escalating time intervals (0-12.5 min). Postoperatively cognitive performance was assessed using either the modified hole board test (mHB) or the Morris water maze (MWM). On postoperative day 14 rats were euthanized and intact neurons in five cerebral regions were counted.
Results
Rats of the 0 and 5 min groups showed normal functional outcome with mild histological damage after 5 min of BCAO. Following 7.5 min of BCAO the mHB test showed cognitive deficits reflecting histological damage of the hippocampus while the MWM revealed normal functional outcome. Rats of the 10 and 12.5 min groups showed cognitive deficits in both tests, motor dysfunction and behavioral alterations in the mHB test and profound histological damage.
Conclusions
The results indicate that the mHB is not inferior to the MWM for the evaluation of cognitive impairment following incomplete forebrain ischemia in rats. As the mHB additionally investigates a variety of behavioral dimensions and motor parameters in the same test environment, it is advantageous for the evaluation of interacting and potentially confounding behavioral changes following cerebral ischemia in rats.