Characterization of gene-environment interactions by behavioral profiling of selectively bred rats: The effect of NMDA receptor inhibition and social isolation.

Authors: Petrovszki Z, Adam G, Tuboly G, Kekesi G, Benedek G, Keri S, Horvath G Abstract Gene-environment interactions have an important role in the development of psychiatric disorders. To generate and validate a new substrain of rats with signs related to schizophrenia, we used selective breeding after postweaning social isolation and chronic ketamine treatment through several generations of animals and compared the subsequent strain to naive rats that were not genetically manipulated. We further investigated whether social isolation and ketamine treatment augmented the appearance of schizophrenic-like signs in these rats. Four experimental groups were studied (n=6-15 rats/group): naive rats without any treatment (NaNo); naive rats with postweaning social isolation and ketamine t...

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