Inactivation of medial prefrontal cortex or acute stress impairs odor span in rats

  1. John G. Howland1,3
  1. 1Department of Physiology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada S7N 5E5
    1. 2 These authors contributed equally to this work.

    Abstract

    The capacity of working memory is limited and is altered in brain disorders including schizophrenia. In rodent working memory tasks, capacity is typically not measured (at least not explicitly). One task that does measure working memory capacity is the odor span task (OST) developed by Dudchenko and colleagues. In separate experiments, the effects of medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) inactivation or acute stress on the OST were assessed in rats. Inactivation of the mPFC profoundly impaired odor span without affecting olfactory sensitivity. Acute stress also significantly reduced odor span. These findings support a potential role of the OST in developing novel therapeutics for disorders characterized by impaired working memory capacity.

    Footnotes

    • 3 Corresponding author

      E-mail john.howland{at}usask.ca

    • Received June 25, 2013.
    • Accepted August 25, 2013.

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