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The 5-Choice Serial Reaction Time Task (5-CSRTT) is an automated test for rodents allowing the assessment of multiple cognitive measures. Originally designed to assess cognitive deficits relevant to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, it has been widely used in the investigation of neural systems of attention. In the current study, we have set up a modified version, which reduced the training phase to only 8-9 days with minimal food deprivation and without single-housing. Furthermore, based on evidence that patients with schizophrenia are more impaired in broad monitoring abilities than in sustained attention, we successfully developed a protocol replicating the Spatial Attentional Resource Allocation Task (SARAT), used in humans to assess broad monitoring. During this task, when the target appeared at a single pre-cued location, mice selectively responded faster. Instead, increasing the number of validly cued locations proportionately decreased accuracy. We then validated a protocol which is relevant for neuropsychiatric disorders in which additional irrelevant pre-cue lights selectively disrupted attention (distractibility). Finally, we improved previously used protocols changing inter-trial intervals from 5 to 7 s by randomly presenting this shift only in 20% of the trials. This resulted in a selective effect on premature responses (impulsivity), with important implications for schizophrenia as well as for other mental disorders. Therefore, this revised 5-CSRTT reduced training and stress on the animals while selectively measuring different cognitive functions with translational validity to schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Agitation and aggressive behavior are common symptoms of Alzheimer''s disease (AD), and tangle density in frontal cortex is a possible regional substrate of these behaviors. To investigate this further, 16 AD patients, 8 patients with non-AD dementia, and 13 age-matched control subjects for frontal cortex and, respectively, 21, 7, and 6 patients for parietal cortex were analyzed for tau and phospho-tau by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Agitation/aggression was determined by the Present Behavioural Examination. In a subset of cases, glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK-3β) phosphorylation and protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) expression were measured. Phospho-tau and the phospho-tau/total tau ratio were elevated in AD in both cortical regions. In keeping with our hypothesis, the phospho-tau/total tau ratio was elevated in the frontal cortex of those patients with agitation/aggression during life, and there was a significant correlation (p = 0.024) between these behaviors and the phospho-tau/total tau ratio in the cortex. PP2A expression was lower (p < 0.01) in the frontal cortex of patients with high tau phosphorylation. This study confirms a link between tau phosphorylation and agitation/aggression and suggests that reducing tau phosphorylation may provide symptomatic relief. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Memantine is an uncompetitive, low-affinity NMDA receptor antagonist clinically used for the treatment of cognitive deficits in moderate to severe Alzheimer’s disease. Both neurophysiological and behavioral studies in rodents have suggested a beneficial effect of memantine on synaptic plasticity and learning performances. In the present study, we investigated the effect of memantine on pedonculopontine-elicited theta oscillations in the hippocampus of urethane anesthetized mice, a model shown to be sensitive to several pharmacological agents exhibiting cognitive-enhancing properties. We found that a low dose of memantine potentiated elicited theta power while a high dose was disruptive. The low dose of memantine used was shown to yield an unbound brain concentration well within the range of therapeutic concentrations reported in rodent brain extracellular fluid and human cerebrospinal fluid. For further comparison, the effect of another uncompetitive NMDA receptor antagonist with higher affinity, i.e. MK-801, was also investigated. MK-801 was at a low dose devoid of effect on elicited theta power, while a high dose, within the range of doses reported to induce cognitive deficits in a variety of hippocampal-dependent learning paradigms in mice, was found disruptive on elicited theta waves. Taken together, our results suggest that clinically relevant doses of memantine promote neuronal network synchronization in the hippocampus, which may represent an underlying mechanism for the reported cognitive-enhancing properties in both preclinical and clinical studies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Rationale: The G-protein-coupled relaxin family receptors RXFP1 and RXFP3 are widely expressed in the cortex and are involved in stress responses and memory and emotional processing. However, the identification of these receptors in human cortex and their status in Alzheimer's disease (AD), which is characterized by both cognitive impairments and neuropsychiatric behaviours, have not been reported. Objectives: In this study, we characterized RXFP receptors for immunoblotting and measured RXFP1 and RXFP3 immunoreactivities in the postmortem neocortex of AD patients longitudinally assessed for depressive symptoms. Methods: RXFP1 and RXFP3 antibodies were characterized by immunoblotting with lysates from transfected HEK cells and preadsorption with RXFP3 peptides. Also, postmortem neocortical tissues from behaviourally assessed AD and age-matched controls were processed for immunoblotting with RXFP1 and RXFP3 antibodies. Results: Compared to controls, putative RXFP1 immunoreactivity was reduced in parietal cortex of non-depressed AD patients but unchanged in depressed patients. Furthermore, putative RXFP3 immunoreactivity was increased only in depressed AD patients. RXFP1 levels in the parietal cortex also correlated with severity of depression symptoms. In contrast, RXFP1 and RXFP3 levels did not correlate with dementia severity or β-amyloid burden. Conclusion: Alterations of RXFP1 and RXFP3 may be neurochemical markers of depression in AD, and relaxin family receptors warrant further preclinical investigations as possible therapeutic targets for neuropsychiatric symptoms in dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]