Reduced risk aversion and impaired short-term memory in juvenile rats with malformation of cortical development

•Juvenile rats with MCD showed decreased anxiety on Y-maze and open field.•The rats with MCDs have impaired short-term spatial memory at their prepuberty.•This behavioral phenotype is compatible with clinical manifestations of human MCDs. Malformation of cortical developments (MCDs) is currently an incurable disease and is associated with significant neuropsychological problems, such as intellectual disability, epilepsy, and anxiety disorders from a young age. Development of a suitable animal model and pathophysiological study is therefore necessary to better understand and treat MCDs from being an incurable disease. The Y-maze, open field, and fear conditioning studies were performed at postnatal days 40–44 to validate the behavioral phenotypes of the existing rat model of MCD with prenatal methylazoxymethanol exposure at their developmental period. The study results show that juvenile rats with MCD spent significantly less time inside the novel arms in Y-maze and less time in the peripheral zones of the open field. Additionally, the rats with MCDs showed attenuated freezing behavior to sound and light cues as well as to context after fear conditioning. This comprehensive behavioral analysis of rats with MCDs at the juvenile period indicate a lack of spatial memory, decreased anxiety, and learning disability in these rats, which is compatible with the human behavioral phenotype of MCDs and can be used as the behavioral biomarkers for future translational research.