Strain-dependent effects on acquisition and reversal of visual and spatial tasks in a rat touchscreen battery of cognition

Physiology & Behavior
Gaurav KumarThomas Steckler

Abstract

The use of touch-screen equipped operant boxes is an increasingly popular method for modeling human cognition in the rodent. A concern of this approach is that the dependence upon vision may limit the strains of rats that can be tested in the apparatus. This is of particular concern because of the increased availability of genetically modified rats that are disproportionately on an albino background and may have compromised vision. Here we test pigmented and albino strains of rats on three touch-screen tasks of learning and memory that may require different levels of visual ability. In tests where albino animals have similar levels of performance as the pigmented rats we also tested common pharmacological models of cognitive impairment to determine the generalizability of these challenges across strains. By doing this work we hope to determine the robustness of common models of pharmacological impairment in albino rats. We tested four strains of rats (albino: Wistar and Sprague Dawley, pigmented: Long Evans and Lister Hooded) in three touchscreen-based tasks of cognition with differing visual requirements: visual discrimination (VD) acquisition and reversal learning, and the more spatial and less visually demanding, automated s...Continue Reading

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Citations

Mar 17, 2016·Neuroscience·Alicia IzquierdoAndrew Holmes
Jul 24, 2015·Psychopharmacology·M Hvoslef-EideT J Bussey
Feb 16, 2017·Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience·Karly M TurnerThomas H J Burne
Jan 5, 2020·The European Journal of Neuroscience·Andrea GogosMaarten van den Buuse
Dec 15, 2020·Behavioural Brain Research·Katja SavolainenMarkus M Forsberg
Jun 27, 2021·Psychopharmacology·Elpidio Attoh-MensahPascale Schumann-Bard

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