Perineuronal nets are highly organized components of the extracellular matrix which inhibit cellular plasticity and support cellular function. Depletion of perineuronal nets in rodents via developmental models of disease or via direct pharmacological interventions (e.g. chondroitinase) can impact cognitive function. In our current study, we utilized injections of an immune-evasive dual vector system, where the chondroitinase gene is under a doxycycline regulatory control, to induce bilateral secretion of chondroitinase, with temporal control, in the medial prefrontal cortex and retrosplenial cortex. These two brain regions are known to be involved in the function of working memory. We subjected mice to 30 days of activated chondroitinase-expression to deplete their perineuronal nets, followed by 30 days without to allow for a window of recovery. Prior to treatment, after treatment, and after 30 days without doxycycline-induced chondroitinase expression, animals were tested in a cross-modal object recognition task and an oddity task, which have been shown to be sensitive to manipulations of the medial prefrontal and retrosplenial cortex. Preliminary data indicates that controlled depletion of perineuronal nets in the medial prefrontal and retrosplenial cortex impacts performance of working memory. While there is some recovery in their working memory performance after 30 days without continuing enzymatic depletion, they do not recover to baseline behavioural performance. This data suggests that perineuronal net degradation in the medial prefrontal and retrosplenial cortex impacts working memory performance, and that these changes are long-lasting.

Cognitive impairments in mice after targeted perineuronal net depletion in the medial prefrontal or retrosplenial cortex.

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PS-3-F -  Cognition and Behavior

poster

Colleagues and Friends:

I am very happy to welcome you to the 14th annual Canadian Neuroscience Meeting, and to the first virtual edition of our meeting. I want to highlight the important work the CAN meeting chair, **Roger Thompson** and co-chair, **Alyson Fournier**, did to put together the great program we are offering this year. Moving to a virtual format required a complete re-design of the program, and both Roger and Alyson did a splendid job in providing us with an appealing and well adapted program for our first virtual event. I wish to thank them for this very important effort.

Highlights of this year’s scientific meeting include invited speakers **Michael Hausser, Franck Polleux, Gwyneth Card, Magdalena Götz**and Brain Prize winner **Huda Zoghbi**. Plenary and parallel symposia, proposed by our members complete our diverse [scientific program.](https://can-acn.org/meeting-2021/program-2021/)

The 2021 Advocacy session, chaired and organized by CAN advocacy committee chair **Karun Singh**, will feature a special lecture and question period with Member of Parliament and past Science Minister **Kirsty Duncan**. This will be followed by a short overview of CAN’s advocacy activities over the last year. We invite you to participate in this session for insight from Dr. Duncan on the workings of Parliament Hill, and to learn more about what CAN has been doing to promote neuroscience research in Canada.

We are also excited to host **Lisa Willis** in the Equity Diversity and Inclusion session, organized by EDI committee chair **Jibran Khokhar**.

A special highlight of our meeting will be the lectures by award-winning young neuroscientists. We are please to host the CAN 2020 Young Investigator Award winner **Mihaela Iordanova**, and CAN 2021 Young Investigator Award winners **Aaron Phillips** and **Tabrez Siddiqui**. Highlights will also include presentation by the top three winners of the CAN-CIHR-INMHA Brain Star Award winners, **Claire Gizowski, Nuria Daviu Abant** and **Lukas Tamayo-Orrego**.

Independently organized satellite symposia complement and complete this exciting program, check them out here: https://can-acn.org/meeting-2021/2021-satellite-symposia/

Some of the most engaging sessions are always the poster sessions featuring the work of our trainees, so make sure to log in to Gather Town during the poster sessions to chat with the presenters.
We hope you enjoy this program, and look forward to welcoming you, virtually.

Shernaz Bamji

President of the Canadian Association for Neuroscience

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John Paylor

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Cognitive impairments in mice after targeted perineuronal net depletion in the medial prefrontal or retrosplenial cortex.

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