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The Journal of Neuroscience, April 20, 2005, 25(16):4169-4180; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0590-05.2005

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Neurobiology of Disease
Cognitive Dysfunction Precedes Neuropathology and Motor Abnormalities in the YAC128 Mouse Model of Huntington's Disease

Jeremy M. Van Raamsdonk,^1,2 Jacqueline Pearson,^1,2 Elizabeth J. Slow,^1,2 Sazzad M. Hossain,^1,2 Blair R. Leavitt,^1,2 and Michael R. Hayden^1,2

¹Department of Medical Genetics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z3 Canada, and ²Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics, British Columbia Research Institute, Vancouver, British Columbia, V5Z 4H4 Canada

Huntington's disease (HD) is an adult-onset neurodegenerative disorder involving motor dysfunction, cognitive deficits, and psychiatric disturbances that result from underlying striatal and cortical dysfunction and neuropathology. The YAC128 mouse model of HD reproduces both the motor deficits and selective degeneration observed in the human disease. However, the presence of cognitive impairment in this model has not been determined. Here, we report mild cognitive deficits in YAC128 mice that precede motor onset and progressively worsen with age. Rotarod testing revealed a motor learning deficit at 2 months of age that progresses such that by 12 months of age, untrained YAC128 mice are unable to learn the rotarod task. Additional support for cognitive dysfunction is evident in a simple swimming test in which YAC128 mice take longer to find the platform than wild-type (WT) controls beginning at 8 months of age. YAC128 mice also have deficits in open-field habituation and in a swimming T-maze test at this age. Strikingly, in the reversal phase of the swimming T-maze test, YAC128 mice take twice as long as WT mice to locate the platform, indicating a difficulty in changing strategy. At 12 months of age, YAC128 mice show decreased prepulse inhibition and habituation to acoustic startle. The clear pattern of cognitive dysfunction in YAC128 mice is similar to the symptoms and progression of cognitive deficits in human HD and provides both the opportunity to examine the relationship between cognitive dysfunction, motor impairment, and neuropathology in HD and to assess whether potential therapies for HD can restore cognitive function.

Key words: Huntington's disease; cognition; behavior; mouse model; learning; memory

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Received Dec 15, 2004; revised March 11, 2005; accepted March 15, 2005.

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