Centennial Honors College
Western Illinois University
Undergraduate Research Day 2012
Poster Presentation
Effects of a Glutamate Antagonist on Spatial Memory Deficits Following Acute
Infusion in Adult Rats
Stephanie Jacobs, Kati Ambrose, Ben Ellington, Courtney Drendel & Ashley Nelson
Faculty Mentor: Matt Blankenship
Psychology
Alzheimer's Disease is the most prevalent form of dementia in the elderly and is very
devastating for many people because there are no drugs thus far to treat it. However,
new drugs have recently been discovered that could possibly reverse the effects of the
disease in its early stages. There were four different groups of rats for our experiment;
one group was administered an anti-Alzheimer's drug (MTEP), one group received the
Alzheimer's Protein (Amyloid-beta), one group received both the anti-drug and the
Alzheimer's protein, and the last group received placebos. We expected the drug and
the protein to be counter-acting treatments. Ideally, the MTEP will prevent the Amyloidbeta from producing its negative effects on the brain by blocking mGluR5 receptors (the
receptors in the brain thought to mediate cell death during Alzheimer’s). The surgeries
were done via injections into the part of the rat's brain that deals with spatial memory
(the hippocampus), which is their ability to remember specific locations in their
environment. At least two weeks after all of the surgeries were complete, we tested their
ability to remember place using the Morris Water Maze. In this maze, the rats were put
into a large tub of water for a minute and a half and they must swim to try to find the
platform. Preliminary results show the Aβ treated animals showed significantly longer
escape time than controls (F(1,19)=5.52, p=.03), more time spent searching in the
platform quadrant (F(1,20)=4.55, p=.046) and significantly shorter swim distances
(F(1,23)=4.31, p=.05), but no differences in swim speed.