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Updated: Dec 10, 2025

Generating a Reproducible Model of Mid-Gestational Maternal Immune Activation using PolyI:C to Study Susceptibility and Resilience in Offspring
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Generating a Reproducible Model of Mid-Gestational Maternal Immune Activation using PolyI:C to Study Susceptibility and Resilience in Offspring

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Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signalling corresponds with distinct behavioural profiles in a rat model of

A R Deane1, N Potemkin2, R D Ward1

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of Otago, Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.

Behavioural Brain Research
|August 27, 2020
PubMed

Dysfunction within the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade has been recognised as a pathological feature of schizophrenia, however the possible mechanistic connection to the disease phenotype remains unexplored. Using the maternal immune activation (MIA) rat model of schizophrenia, the present study investigated the involvement of prefrontal cortex (PFC) MAPK in sensorimotor gating and adaptive learning deficits via western blot, pre-pulse inhibition (PPI) testing, and a contingency degradation operant task, respectively. Principle findings identified a negative relationship between basal MAPK expression and PPI exclusively in MIA rats, suggesting a modulatory role for MAPK in sensorimotor gating pathology. In addition, the correlation between MAPK and adaptive learning capacity observed in control rats was absent for rats exposed to MIA. Findings are considered with respect to the glutamatergic NMDA hypofunction theory of schizophrenia, as well as the critical role of PFC in contingency learning.

Keywords:
Contingency learningMapkMaternal immune activationPrepulse inhibitionRatSchizophrenia

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