Role of 5-HT2a in processes of cognitive flexibility

LUCIA CICCIA; NOELIA V WEISSTAUB

Huerta Grande

Congreso; XXVI Congreso Anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Investigacion en Neurociencias; 2011

SAN

Our ability to adjust our behavior to the dynamic changes of the environment is called "Cognitive flexibility". It is known that this mechanism, which allows an organism to adapt, requires an executive control system and is altered in certain mental disorders. Human and animal models suggest that different regions of the Pre Frontal Cortex play key roles in cognitive flexibility since they are main areas of integration of cognitive, motivational and emotional information. Deficits in cognitive flexibility are characteristic of many psychiatric disorders including schizophrenia, depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. As some other executive functions that are affected in these cases, atypical antipsychotics tend to ameliorate the deficit. Together with the clinical data, there are pre clinical data that support a role of the serotonergic system in cognitive flexibility. 5-HT2aR has been the focus of attention since they are one of the most important post-synaptic receptor of serotonergic system and highly expressed in limbic system. One of the main problems addressing the role of 5-HT2aR in cognitive flexibility is the lack of specific drugs. We propose then, to study the role of 5-HT2AR in processes involving cognitive flexibility using a genetically modified mouse model.