Dopamine dysregulation in the prefrontal cortex relates to cognitive deficits in the sub-chronic PCP-model for schizophrenia: A preliminary investigation

Rationale:Dopamine dysregulation in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) plays an important role in cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia. Sub-chronic phencyclidine (scPCP) treatment produces cognitive impairments in rodents and is a thoroughly validated animal model for cognitive deficits in schizophrenia. The aim of our study was to investigate the role of PFC dopamine in scPCP-induced deficits in a cognitive task of relevance to the disorder, novel object recognition (NOR).Methods:Twelve adult female Lister Hooded rats received scPCP (2 mg/kg) or vehicle via the intraperitoneal route twice daily for 7 days, followed by 7 days washout. In vivo microdialysis was carried out prior to, during and following the NOR task.Results:Vehicle rats successfully discriminated between novel and familiar objects and this was accompanied by a significant increase in dopamine in the PFC during the retention trial (p < 0.01). scPCP produced a significant deficit in NOR (p < 0.05 vs. control) and no PFC dopamine increase was obse...