Valproic Acid Rat Model

Throughout high school, I was involved in an enrichment program through my high school and every other friday a couple other students and I traveled to Allegheny College to take classes. My favorite course by far was the neuroscience class that I took during junior and senior year. Every class, Dr. Jeff Cross would give us journal articles to read about a neurological disorder or experiment that was conducted and the next week we would perform that experiment in class. I enjoyed this class so much that for my senior project I decided to work on a topic with Dr. Cross. Our experiment, which replicated from one done by Andrew W. Zimmerman and Susan L. Connors, investigated whether autism could be treated prenatally with bumetanide. The valproic acid rat model of autism exhibits similar characteristics as humans with autism such as stereotyped behavior,

To do this we emptied out a Morris water maze and filled the bottom with wood shavings. Then we placed halves of PVC tubes in the cage which provided a cover for the rats. The PVC accounted for 50% of the surface area of the container, the rest was open. We had four experimental groups: group one, the true control group, received no valproic acid (VPA) and no bumetanide; group two received VPA on prenatal day 12.5 and no bumetanide; group three received VPA on prenatal day 12.5 and bumetanide on prenatal day 10; group four received VPA on prenatal day 12.5 and bumetanide on prenatal day 20. There were four rats in each group and each rat was placed in the apparatus for five minutes. The time spent under the PCV tubes was recorded; this time was meant to measure the anxiety and fear of the rat. The volunteers timing the rats did not know which group they belonged to. Group one spent an average of 73.5 seconds in the tube, group two spent 205.5 seconds, group 3 three spent 82.5 seconds, and group four spent 190