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Role of ventral hippocampus and medial prefrontal cortex in behavioral flexibility in rodents
Černotová, Daniela ; Svoboda, Jan (advisor) ; Telenský, Petr (referee)
Behavioral adaptation to a continuously changing environment is critical for the survival of the animals, but also day-to-day interactions in the human world. The main components maintaining flexibility in cognition and behavior are well-established and depend mostly on proper intercommunication within the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and striatum. Some parts of the PFC are densely innervated by the ventral hippocampus (vHPC), which has a great impact on its functioning. Also, hippocampal-prefrontal circuit dysfunction has been shown to disrupt the integrity of flexible cognition in some neuropsychiatric diseases. Therefore, the exact functional role of this pathway is an indispensable part of the research. The aim of this study was to test the role of the vHPC and the medial PFC (mPFC) in an active place avoidance task on a rotating arena in 1) two flexibility task variants - reversal learning and set- shifting - and 2) the spatial memory retrieval. We inactivated these structures by muscimol (GABAA receptor agonist) in a variety of unilateral, bilateral, and combined local injections. Disrupted performance was apparent in reversal learning in vHPC-inactivated rats. No effect was seen in mPFC-inactivated rats. Impairments after the task acquisition were observed in bilateral vHPC and mPFC inactivations...
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Role of ventral hippocampus and medial prefrontal cortex in behavioral flexibility in rodents
Černotová, Daniela ; Svoboda, Jan (advisor) ; Telenský, Petr (referee)
Behavioral adaptation to a continuously changing environment is critical for the survival of the animals, but also day-to-day interactions in the human world. The main components maintaining flexibility in cognition and behavior are well-established and depend mostly on proper intercommunication within the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and striatum. Some parts of the PFC are densely innervated by the ventral hippocampus (vHPC), which has a great impact on its functioning. Also, hippocampal-prefrontal circuit dysfunction has been shown to disrupt the integrity of flexible cognition in some neuropsychiatric diseases. Therefore, the exact functional role of this pathway is an indispensable part of the research. The aim of this study was to test the role of the vHPC and the medial PFC (mPFC) in an active place avoidance task on a rotating arena in 1) two flexibility task variants - reversal learning and set- shifting - and 2) the spatial memory retrieval. We inactivated these structures by muscimol (GABAA receptor agonist) in a variety of unilateral, bilateral, and combined local injections. Disrupted performance was apparent in reversal learning in vHPC-inactivated rats. No effect was seen in mPFC-inactivated rats. Impairments after the task acquisition were observed in bilateral vHPC and mPFC inactivations...
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Disruption of hippocampal-prefrontal connection in animal models of schizophrenia
Černotová, Daniela ; Svoboda, Jan (advisor) ; Moravcová, Simona (referee)
Schizophrenia is a heterogeneous mental disease that afflicts about 1% of population with no treatment available that would ameliorate all of its symptoms. The key structures affected in schizophrenia are the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex. This work focuses on the interplay between these structures and on the monosynaptic hippocampal-prefrontal connection, the abnormal neural activity of which is the main cause of cognitive, positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia. This work summarizes existing findings about both normal and impaired function of the hippocampal-prefrontal connection and provides an overview of animal models frequently used in research. Key words: hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, schizophrenia, interneuron, animal model
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