Department of Anaesthesiology, Technische Universität München, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Ismaninger Str. 22, 81675 Munich, Germany.
Behav Brain Res. 2012 Nov 1;235(1):7-20. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2012.07.027. Epub 2012 Jul 24.
While histological injury following cerebral ischemia has been extensively characterized in rodents, evidence on the effects on executive functioning is still missing. This study was designed to evaluate neuropsychological outcome following different severities of cerebral ischemia in rats with the modified hole board test or the Morris water maze.
With institutional review board approval, anesthetized rats were exposed to bilateral carotid artery occlusion (BCAO) for escalating time intervals (0-12.5 min). Postoperatively cognitive performance was assessed using either the modified hole board test (mHB) or the Morris water maze (MWM). On postoperative day 14 rats were euthanized and intact neurons in five cerebral regions were counted.
Rats of the 0 and 5 min groups showed normal functional outcome with mild histological damage after 5 min of BCAO. Following 7.5 min of BCAO the mHB test showed cognitive deficits reflecting histological damage of the hippocampus while the MWM revealed normal functional outcome. Rats of the 10 and 12.5 min groups showed cognitive deficits in both tests, motor dysfunction and behavioral alterations in the mHB test and profound histological damage.
The results indicate that the mHB is not inferior to the MWM for the evaluation of cognitive impairment following incomplete forebrain ischemia in rats. As the mHB additionally investigates a variety of behavioral dimensions and motor parameters in the same test environment, it is advantageous for the evaluation of interacting and potentially confounding behavioral changes following cerebral ischemia in rats.
虽然在啮齿动物中广泛描述了脑缺血后的组织学损伤，但关于其对执行功能影响的证据仍存在缺失。本研究旨在通过改良的洞板测试或 Morris 水迷宫评估大鼠不同程度脑缺血后的神经心理学结果。
经机构审查委员会批准，麻醉大鼠暴露于双侧颈总动脉闭塞（BCAO），时间间隔递增（0-12.5 分钟）。术后采用改良洞板测试（mHB）或 Morris 水迷宫（MWM）评估认知表现。术后第 14 天处死大鼠，计算五个脑区的完整神经元数量。
0 分钟和 5 分钟组的大鼠在 5 分钟 BCAO 后表现出正常的功能结果和轻度的组织学损伤。在 7.5 分钟 BCAO 后，mHB 测试显示认知缺陷，反映了海马的组织学损伤，而 MWM 显示正常的功能结果。10 分钟和 12.5 分钟组的大鼠在两个测试中均显示出认知缺陷、mHB 测试中的运动功能障碍和行为改变以及严重的组织学损伤。
结果表明，mHB 在评估大鼠不完全前脑缺血后认知障碍方面并不逊于 MWM。由于 mHB 还在同一测试环境中研究了多种行为维度和运动参数，因此它有利于评估大鼠脑缺血后相互作用和潜在混杂的行为变化。
