Browsing by Subject "rats"

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    Acute d-Amphetamine alters the temporal patterning of intermittent synchronized oscillations in hippocampal and prefrontal circuits of the rat
    (Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2012-04-13) Ahn, S.; Lapish, C.C.; RUBCHINSKY, L.L.
    D-Amphetamine (d-AMPH) increases the bioavailability of numerous catecholamines, including dopamine, throughout the brain and modulates neural firing in cortical and subcortical regions. While a complex array of d-AMPH-mediated effects on firing have been reported, less is known regarding how d-AMPH affects the oscillatory properties of cortical circuits. In the current study, we simultaneously recorded local field potentials from electrode arrays implanted in the medial prefrontal cortex (PFC) and hippocampus (HC) of awake freely moving rats treated with saline, 1.0 mg/kg, or 3.3 mg/kg d-AMPH. The fine temporal structure of synchrony in delta, theta, beta, and gamma bands between these brain regions was examined to characterize how phase synchronization was altered by each dose of d-AMPH relative to saline. Differences were observed in the average level of phase-locking and in the variation of temporal patterns of synchrony on short (sub-second) time scales (including the distribution of durations of desynchronization events. In general, treatment with d-AMPH evoked higher levels of phase-locking. While this imperfect phase-locking can be potentially attained with both large number of short desynchronization episodes and small number of long desynchronization episodes, the data are marked by the dominance of short desynchronization episodes. These results suggest that within the HC and PFC, d-AMPH acts to increase synchronized oscillatory activity. The dominance of short desynchronization episodes suggests that the synchrony can be easily destabilized, yet it can be quickly re-established. The ease with which neural circuits can transition between synchronized and desynchronized dynamics may reflect altered information transfer regimes in these circuits and contribute to the spectrum of effects on cognition frequently observed with d-AMPH.
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    Development and comparison of a minimallyinvasive model of autologous clot pulmonary embolism in Sprague-Dawley and Copenhagen rats
    (2010-02) Runyon, Michael S; Gellar, Michael A; Sanapareddy, Nina; Kline, Jeffrey A.; Watts, John A
    Background Experimental models of pulmonary embolism (PE) that produce pulmonary hypertension (PH) employ many different methods of inducing acute pulmonary occlusion. Many of these models induce PE with intravenous injection of exogenous impervious objects that may not completely reproduce the physiological properties of autologous thromboembolism. Current literature lacks a simple, well-described rat model of autlogous PE. Objective: Test if moderate-severity autologous PE in Sprague-Dawley (SD) and Copenhagen (Cop) rats can produce persistent PH. Methods blood was withdrawn from the jugular vein, treated with thrombin-Ca++ and re-injected following pretreatment with tranexamic acid. Hemodynamic values, clot weights and biochemical measurements were performed at 1 and 5 days. Results Infusion of clot significantly increased the right ventricular peak systolic pressure to 45-55 mm Hg, followed by normalization within 24 hours in SD rats, and within 5 days in COP rats. Clot lysis was 95% (24 hours) and 97% (5 days) in SD rats and was significantly lower in COP rats (70%, 24 hours; 87% 5 days). Plasma D-dimer was elevated in surgical sham animals and was further increased 8 hours after pulmonary embolism. Neither strain showed a significant increase in bronchoalveolar chemotactic activity, myeloperoxidase activity, leukocyte infiltration, or chemokine accumulation, indicating that there was no significant pulmonary inflammation. Conclusions Both SD and COP rats exhibited near complete fibrinolysis of autologous clot PE within 5 days. Neither strain developed persistent PH. Experimental models of PE designed to induce sustained PH and a robust inflammatory response appear to require significant, persistent pulmonary vascular occlusion.
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    The Effects of Long-Term Varenicline Administration on Ethanol and Sucrose Seeking and Self-Administration in Male P Rats
    (Wiley, 2018) Czachowski, Cristine L.; Froehlich, Janice C.; DeLory, Michael; Psychology, School of Science
    Background Varenicline, a partial agonist at α4β2 and full agonist at α7 nicotinic cholinergic receptors, is FDA-approved for treatment of smoking cessation and has been found to reduce alcohol craving in clinical populations. In rodents, varenicline decreases free-choice ethanol (EtOH) intake with somewhat mixed findings in operant paradigms that utilize a combined appetitive/consummatory response. Methods The present experiment utilized an operant paradigm that procedurally separates appetitive from consummatory responding and a “reward-blocking” approach (i.e., rats were able to consume EtOH during treatment) to better understand the efficacy of varenicline as a treatment for EtOH self-administration and subsequent EtOH seeking. Separate groups of EtOH- and sucrose-reinforced alcohol-preferring, male P rats experienced alternating cycles of vehicle (2-week cycles) and varenicline (0.3, 1.0, and 2.0 mg/kg self-administered in a gelatin preparation) treatment (3-week cycles) prior to daily sessions where a single lever press resulted in 20 minutes of reinforcer access. At the end of each cycle, a single extinction session assessed the seeking response in the absence of drug pretreatment. Results Varenicline dose dependently decreased EtOH intake. Sucrose intake was largely unaffected, with no overall treatment effects and only sporadic days where the medium and high dose differed from vehicle. Neither sucrose nor EtOH seeking was significantly decreased by varenicline, and there were no treatment effects on either lick or lever-press latency. Overall effect sizes were much greater for both drinking and seeking in the EtOH group as compared to the sucrose group. Conclusions Varenicline effectively attenuates EtOH self-administration during treatment, but the experience with EtOH consumption while varenicline is “on board” is not sufficient to alter subsequent EtOH seeking. The overall pattern of findings indicates that varenicline blocks the rewarding properties of EtOH while not substituting for EtOH, that the nonspecific effects on an alternate reinforcer are negligible, and that blood levels of varenicline need to be maintained in order for treatment to remain effective.