Nutrition during pregnancy can affect offspring behavior later in life. This paper describes a protocol for the hyperlocomotion test, which measures behavioral symptoms resembling psychosis or mania. The example uses rats given an acute injection of phencyclidine (PCP), which causes hyperlocomotion and stereotypic behaviors similar to positive symptoms of schizophrenia.
Chronic administration of phencyclidine to rats produces schizophrenia-like symptoms and alters proteins and metabolites in the frontal cortex that overlap with changes seen in the prefrontal cortex of people with schizophrenia. Proteomic profiling identified alterations in glutamate-mediated calcium signaling, mitochondrial function, and cytoskeletal remodeling; metabonomic profiling revealed changes in glutamate, glutamine, glycine, pyruvate, and the calcium regulator taurine. The similarities, though not identical, indicate the rat model captures only some molecular features of the disease. The findings suggest that multiple models may be needed to better translate to human schizophrenia and aid drug discovery.