Journal: Brain stimulation

Article Title: Vagus nerve stimulation during extinction learning reduces conditioned place preference and context-induced reinstatement of cocaine seeking.

doi: 10.1016/j.brs.2019.07.001

Figure Lengend Snippet: Fig. 1. VNS facilitates extinction of conditioned place preference. A) Illustration of the CPP apparatus, with the left and right compartments distinguished by grid vs. smooth floor and horizontally vs. vertically striped walls. B) Time spent on the cocaine-paired side during the baseline period, the conditioned preference test, the extinction test, and drug-primed reinstatement. Sham-treated animals showed increased preference for the cocaine-paired side compared to animals given VNS during (VNS in session) or shortly after (VNS after session) extinction sessions. C) The graph illustrates how the time spent in the drug-paired side (CSþ) and the saline-paired side (CS-) change over the course of the experiment for the three treatment groups. After conditioning, ani- mals in all groups have increased preference for the cocaine-paired side compared to the saline side. Extinction reduces this conditioned preference, but during drug- primed reinstatement only sham-treated animals have a preference for the cocaine- paired side. P values are * <0.05.

Article Snippet: Drug self-administration and extinction training One week after surgery, rats were trained in a single overnight session to self-administer food pellets on a fixed ratio 1 (FR1) schedule in an operant conditioning chamber (Med Associates, Saint Albans, VT).

Techniques: Conditioned Place Preference, Saline

Journal: Cerebral Cortex (New York, NY)

Article Title: Motivational Impairment is Accompanied by Corticoaccumbal Dysfunction in the BACHD-Tg5 Rat Model of Huntington’s Disease

doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhz009

Figure Lengend Snippet: Early and sustained motivational and hedonic deficits in the absence of gross motor abnormalities in HD. (a) Representative cumulative response records from 3 mo. WT and Tg5 rats performing the PR task. (b) Tg5 rats show reduced breakpoints under a PR schedule across all ages (n = 89). (c) Significant age-related decline in locomotor activity counts in both genotypes (n = 44). (d) Similar consumption of highly-palatable food pellets under free-access conditions across all ages in Tg5 vs. WT rats (n = 50). At 6 mo., WT rats consume significantly more pellets than at 12 mo. (e–g) On matched PR trials, Tg5 rats show similar latency as WT rats to complete each response ratio at 3 mo. of age before declining in performance at 6 and 12 mo. of age (n = 73). (h–j) Tg5 rats demonstrate lower preference for saccharin solution than WT rats at all ages (n = 50). Unless otherwise stated, data are represented as mean ± SEM; *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001 vs. Tg5; # P < 0.05 vs. other ages.

Article Snippet: Progressive Ratio (PR) Task Rats were tested in operant conditioning chambers (MedAssociates, Inc., St. Albans, VT) as previously described ( Hernandez and Cheer 2012 ), and data collection and programming were conducted using PC computers with a Med-PC interface (MedAssociates, Inc.).

Techniques: Activity Assay

Journal: Cerebral Cortex (New York, NY)

Article Title: Motivational Impairment is Accompanied by Corticoaccumbal Dysfunction in the BACHD-Tg5 Rat Model of Huntington’s Disease

doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhz009

Figure Lengend Snippet: Progressive corticostriatal network dysfunction in HD. (a) Multi-electrode extracellular recording sites in the PFC and NAc. (b) Representative simultaneous LFP recordings collected during PR task performance. (c) Representative power spectrum illustrating functional frequency bandwidths [Δ: 0–3 Hz, θ: 3.1–7 Hz, α: 7.1–12 Hz, β: 12.1–30 Hz, low γ: 30.1–55 Hz, high γ: 55.1–120 Hz]. Inset: Magnification of 0–12 Hz range. (d–f) Intra-PFC power spectra demonstrate attenuated high gamma power at 12 mo. in Tg5 vs. WT rats. Insets: AUC of frequency bandwidth power (n = 47). (g–i) Intra-NAc power spectra reveal genotype differences in gamma frequency power across ages. Compared to WT rats, Tg5 rats display lower power in both low and high gamma frequency ranges at 3 mo., normalization of power at 6 mo., and then reemergence of abnormally lower power in the high gamma range at 12 mo. Insets: AUC of frequency bandwidth power (n = 48). (j–l) LFP–LFP coherence between the PFC and NAc is diminished in Tg5 rats at 6 and 12 mo., but not 3 mo. Insets: AUC of frequency bandwidth coherence (n = 47). Unless otherwise stated, data are represented as mean or mean ± SEM. *P < 0.05 vs. Tg5.

Article Snippet: Progressive Ratio (PR) Task Rats were tested in operant conditioning chambers (MedAssociates, Inc., St. Albans, VT) as previously described ( Hernandez and Cheer 2012 ), and data collection and programming were conducted using PC computers with a Med-PC interface (MedAssociates, Inc.).

Techniques: Functional Assay

Journal: Cerebral Cortex (New York, NY)

Article Title: Motivational Impairment is Accompanied by Corticoaccumbal Dysfunction in the BACHD-Tg5 Rat Model of Huntington’s Disease

doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhz009

Figure Lengend Snippet: Summary of behavioral and neurophysiological impairments in Tg5 vs. WT rats across ages

Article Snippet: Progressive Ratio (PR) Task Rats were tested in operant conditioning chambers (MedAssociates, Inc., St. Albans, VT) as previously described ( Hernandez and Cheer 2012 ), and data collection and programming were conducted using PC computers with a Med-PC interface (MedAssociates, Inc.).

Techniques: Functional Assay

Journal: Nature medicine

Article Title: Decreased expression of synapse-related genes and loss of synapses in major depressive disorder.

doi: 10.1038/nm.2886

Figure Lengend Snippet: Figure 4 Viral expression of GATA1 in rat PFCs causes depressive behavior. (a) Schematic diagram of the experimental schedule. Control rAAV and rAAV-GATA1-eGFP vectors were surgically infused into the medial PFC (rAAV surgery) and rats were allowed to recover for 5 weeks (recovery/rAAV expression). LA, locomotor activity; FST, forced swim test; LH, learned helplessness; IHC, immunochemistry. (b) Representative low-power (left) image of GFP IHC showing the location of the viral infusion site in the medial PFC. On the right is an image of the labeled neurons at a higher magnification. (c,d) Influence of control virus (rAAV-control) and rAAV-GATA1 on the behavior in the forced swim test (c) and the learned helplessness (d) paradigm. Avoidance testing was separated into trials 1–5 and 6–10. Data are the mean ± s.e.m. (n = 9 for rAAV-control and n = 10 for rAAV-GATA1). * P < 0.05 compared to rAAV-control (t test). (e) Schematic diagram of Gata1 shRNA knockdown in the CUS paradigm. SPT, sucrose preference test. (f) Representative image of GFP IHC showing the location of viral infusion in the same region of the PFC as is shown in b. (g) Influence of rAAV-ScrshRNA and rAAV-GATA1shRNA on sucrose preference in control nonstressed and CUS-exposed rats. Data are the mean ± s.e.m. (controls: n = 6 for rAAV-ScrshRNA and n = 8 for rAAV-GATA1shRNA; CUS: n = 7 for rAAV-ScrshRNA and n = 8 for rAAV-GATA1shRNA). *P < 0.05 compared to the respective control group (analysis of variance and Fisher’s protected least significant difference post-hoc analysis).

Article Snippet: The learned helplessness procedure was performed in custom-built, two-chambered shuttle boxes (Med Associates, Vermont), as previously described45,46.

Techniques: Expressing, Control, Activity Assay, Labeling, Virus, shRNA, Knockdown