The BACHD Rat Model of Huntington Disease Shows Signs of Fronto-Striatal Dysfunction in Two Operant Conditioning Tests of Short-Term Memory.

ABSTRACT: The BACHD rat is a recently developed transgenic animal model of Huntington disease, a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by extensive loss of striatal neurons. Cognitive impairments are common among patients, and characterization of similar deficits in animal models of the disease is therefore of interest. The present study assessed the BACHD rats' performance in the delayed alternation and the delayed non-matching to position test, two Skinner box-based tests of short-term memory function. The transgenic rats showed impaired performance in both tests, indicating general problems with handling basic aspects of the tests, while short-term memory appeared to be intact. Similar phenotypes have been found in rats with fronto-striatal lesions, suggesting that Huntington disea

SUBMITTER: Clemensson EK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5207398 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature