1. Chronic phencyclidine administration induces schizophrenia-like changes in N-acetylaspartate and N-acetylaspartylglutamate in rat brain.
- Author
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Reynolds LM, Cochran SM, Morris BJ, Pratt JA, and Reynolds GP
- Subjects
- Animals, Brain physiopathology, Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid, Corpus Striatum drug effects, Disease Models, Animal, Dose-Response Relationship, Drug, Frontal Lobe drug effects, Hippocampus drug effects, Male, Psychotic Disorders physiopathology, Rats, Rats, Long-Evans, Temporal Lobe drug effects, Aspartic Acid analogs & derivatives, Aspartic Acid metabolism, Brain drug effects, Dipeptides metabolism, Hallucinogens adverse effects, Phencyclidine adverse effects, Psychotic Disorders etiology
- Abstract
Administration of phencyclidine (PCP) to both humans and animals models the symptoms of schizophrenia. Brain concentrations of N-acetylaspartate (NAA) are reduced in this disease, reflecting neuronal dysfunction. This study investigates the effects in rats of a chronic intermittent regime of PCP on NAA and its precursor N-acetylaspartylglutamate (NAAG) in rat frontal and temporal cortex, hippocampus and striatum, determined by HPLC. We found significant PCP-induced deficits of NAA and NAAG only in the temporal cortex; NAAG was significantly elevated in the hippocampus. These changes closely reflect postmortem findings reported in schizophrenia.
- Published
- 2005
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