Beneficial effects of repeated caffeine treatment on motivation and cognitive functions in schizophrenia-like, Wisket, rats
01/30/2020
Gyöngyi Horváth1, Alexandra Büki1, Gabriella Kékesi1, György Benedek1
1 Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Szeged, Szeged
The improvement in the cognitive functions after coffee intake has been proved both in dementia and schizophrenia. The goal of this study was to reveal the effects of caffeine treatment on different behavioral parameters in control and schizophrenia-like, Wisket, rats in a reward-based corridor system (Ambitus). Male Wistar and Wisket rats were involved in a five-day long study with two sessions daily with three hours intervals. The task was to collect food rewards in different paradigms. The animals were treated daily between day 2-5 with caffeine (20 mg/kg) or saline 30 min before the first trial. The control animals explored all the four corridors and the food containing side-boxes, and consumed the rewards. The saline-treated Wisket animals displayed reduced locomotor and exploratory activities with decreased food consumption. Caffeine treatment enhanced each of these parameters in the Wisket animals during the whole investigated period, especially the exploration into the reward containing side-boxes. The control animals showed similar responses only on day 1 and 2. The saline-treated Wisket animals showed significantly decreased learning capacity compared to the controls. During the 5-day long protocol the caffeine treatment did not influence the learning process of the control animals, but it caused an enhanced cognitive improvement in Wiskets. Therefore, no significant differences were obtained between the two groups at day 5. In conclusion, the repeated caffeine treatment caused beneficial behavioral effects in the schizophrenia-like rats, while tolerance developed for caffeine within a few days in the control animals.Support: GINOP 2.3.3-15-2016-00031.