Selective alteration in B-50/GAP-43 phosphorylation in brain areas of animals characterized by cognitive impairment

When methylazoxymethanol acetate is administered to pregnant rats at gestational day 19, the offspring are greatly impaired in the learning of a two-way active avoidance task and these behavioral changes are paralleled by a change in the phosphorylation of the protein B-50/GAP-43 in hippocampus but not in cortex. The expression of the protein is not altered, indicating that the phosphorylation of B-50 is a sensitive marker of alterations in synaptic plasticity associated with impairments of learning abilities in rats.