[Abstract Title]. - Society for Neuroscience

and NRB rats were given a daily i.p. injection of D aspartate (D-Asp 0.5 M), or D-Asp dietilester
hydrochloride (DEE 0.5 M) or vehicle for 17 days. One hour after the 15th injection rats
were exposed to a spatial novelty, a Làt-maze, for 10 min. Horizontal (HA) and vertical (VA -
freq. and duration) activity were monitored. On the 17th day 1h after last injection rats were
exposed to a radial maze (Olton maze) for 10 min, sacrificed and brains dissected out as
prefrontal cortex (PFC), striatum (STR), hippocampus (HPC) and hypotalamus (HYP). Amino
acids were detected by HPLC in duplicates. Results indicate that D-Asp treated NHE rats
showed a significant increment of HA. Conversely in NRB rats DEE treatment decreased it. No
treatment effect was found for VA in NHE and NRB for frequency and duration of rearing. In
addition, in the Olton maze no treatment effect was found on HA in both rat lines. In contrast,
VA was decreased in NHE by D-Asp treatment whereas the same effect was obtained by DEE in
the NRB. Furthermore D-Asp treatment impaired attention in NRB decreasing number of arm
visited before first repetition. Moreover forebrain excitatory amino acids were higher in the NHE
vs. NRB under basal conditions. Subchronic D-Asp or DEE treatment reduced D-Asp levels in
the NHE and increased it in the NRB rats. In particular this effect pertained to all areas but
hypotalamus in the NRB and to all areas but hippocampus in the NHE. Finally D-Asp level in
the brain region was negatively correlated with behavioral components in both rats lines. In
conclusion, these findings demonstrate differential effects of subchronic D-Asp and its diethyl
prodrug. This in turn could be explained by the different amino acid basal level in NHE and
NRB rats.
Disclosures: A. Di Pizzo, None; L.A. Ruocco, None; U.A. Gironi Carnevale, None; D. Melisi,
None; A. Curcio, None; M. Rimoli, None; C. Arra, None; E. Topo, None; A. D'Aniello,
None; A.G. Sadile, None; S. De Lucia, None.
Poster
249. Dyslexia, SLI, and Other Disorders of Cognition and Behavior
Time: Sunday, November 16, 2008, 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Program#/Poster#: 249.19/V4
Topic: C.05.e. Other
Support: NIH/NCRR P41 RR013642
NIAAA U01 AA017122
NIDA R21 DA15878
NIAAA U24 AA014808