Early-Life Rem Sleep Deprivation Alters Learning And Social Behavior In Young Adult Rats
Corley, K1, Holland, B2, and Shaffery JP2
1Mississippi INBRE Research Scholar, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, University of Mississippi Medical Center School of Medicine, Jackson, MS
2Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, University of Mississippi Medical Center School of Medicine, Jackson, MS
Our earlier studies demonstrated that early life REMS-deprivation negatively impacts the maturation of hippocampal Long Term Potentiation (LTP) stability. The purpose of this study is to determine if there is an association between early life REMS-deprivation and behavioral changes in young female adult rats. We used Novel Object Recognition (NOR) and Novel Placement Recognition (NPR) to examine different aspects of learning behavior. An Open Field Test (OPT) was conducted to measure anxiety levels, and, social behavior was examined through play behavior videos. Our previous data in male rats showed that the deprived rats had less interest in the novel object during the NOR testing than rats in the control group. Instances of play behavior were significantly lower as well in the deprived rats. Results from the males also demonstrated that there were no significant differences between the REMS-deprived group of rats and the control group in the NPR and OF testing. However, hippocampal LTP in female REMS-deprived rats was shown to be reduced compared to controls less than what was observed in males. Thus, we may find disparate behavioral results in the females. We expect our data to show that postnatal REMS-deprivation will alter normal learning and social behaviors when the rats become young adults and have lifelong consequences on brain maturation.