Anxiety and Alzheimer's Disease: Behavioral Analysis and Neural Basis in Rodent Models of Alzheimer's-related Neuropathology

Overview

Journal Neurosci Biobehav Rev

Specialties Neurology
Psychology
Social Sciences

Date 2021 May 12

PMID 33979573

Citations 32

Authors

Nathan S Pentkowski

Kimberly K Rogge-Obando

Tia N Donaldson

Samuel J Bouquin

Benjamin J Clark

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology is commonly associated with cognitive decline but is also composed of neuropsychiatric symptoms including psychological distress and alterations in mood, including anxiety and depression. Emotional dysfunction in AD is frequently modeled using tests of anxiety-like behavior in transgenic rodents. These tests often include the elevated plus-maze, light/dark test and open field test. In this review, we describe prototypical behavioral paradigms used to examine emotional dysfunction in transgenic models of AD, specifically anxiety-like behavior. Next, we summarize the results of studies examining anxiety-like behavior in transgenic rodents, noting that the behavioral outcomes using these paradigms have produced inconsistent results. We suggest that future research will benefit from using a battery of tests to examine emotional behavior in transgenic AD models. We conclude by discussing putative, overlapping neurobiological mechanisms underlying AD-related neuropathology, stress and anxiety-like behavior reported in AD models.

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