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Chestnykh D, Graßl F, Pfeifer C, Dülk J, Ebner C, Walters M, von Hörsten S, Kornhuber J, Kalinichenko LS, Heinrich M, Müller CP. Behavioural effects of APH199, a selective dopamine D4 receptor agonist, in animal models. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2023; 240:1011-1031. [PMID: 36854793 PMCID: PMC10006056 DOI: 10.1007/s00213-023-06347-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2022] [Accepted: 02/21/2023] [Indexed: 03/02/2023]
Abstract
RATIONALE The dopamine D4 receptors (DRD4) play a key role in numerous brain functions and are involved in the pathogenesis of various psychiatric disorders. DRD4 ligands have been shown to moderate anxiety, reward and depression-like behaviours, and cognitive impairments. Despite a series of promising but ambiguous findings, the therapeutic advantages of DRD4 stimulation remain elusive. OBJECTIVES The investigation focused on the behavioural effects of the recently developed DRD4 agonist, APH199, to evaluate its impact on anxiety, anhedonia, behavioural despair, establishment and retrieval of alcohol reinforcement, and amphetamine (AMPH)-induced symptoms. METHODS Male C57BL/6 J mice and Sprague-Dawley rats were examined in five independent experiments. We assessed APH199 (0.1-5 mg/kg, i.p.) effects on a broad range of behavioural parameters in the open field (OF) test, conditioned place preference test (CPP), elevated plus maze (EPM), light-dark box (LDB), novelty suppressed feeding (NSF), forced swim test (FST), sucrose preference test (SPT), AMPH-induced hyperlocomotion test (AIH), and prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the acoustic startle response in AMPH-sensitized rats. RESULTS APH199 caused mild and sporadic anxiolytic and antidepressant effects in EPM and FST, but no remarkable impact on behaviour in other tests in mice. However, we found a significant increase in AMPH-induced hyperactivity, suggesting an exaggeration of the psychotic-like responses in the AMPH-sensitized rats. CONCLUSIONS Our data challenged the hypothesis of the therapeutic benefits of DRD4 agonists, pointing out a possible aggravation of psychosis. We suggest a need for further preclinical studies to ensure the safety of antipsychotics with DRD4 stimulating properties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daria Chestnykh
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Clinic, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Schwabachanlage 6, 91054, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Fabian Graßl
- Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Nikolaus-Fiebiger-Str. 10, 91058, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Canice Pfeifer
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Clinic, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Schwabachanlage 6, 91054, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Jonas Dülk
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Clinic, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Schwabachanlage 6, 91054, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Chiara Ebner
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Clinic, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Schwabachanlage 6, 91054, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Mona Walters
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Clinic, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Schwabachanlage 6, 91054, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Stephan von Hörsten
- Department of Experimental Therapy, Preclinical Experimental Center, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Palmsanlage 5, 91054, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Johannes Kornhuber
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Clinic, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Schwabachanlage 6, 91054, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Liubov S Kalinichenko
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Clinic, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Schwabachanlage 6, 91054, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Markus Heinrich
- Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Nikolaus-Fiebiger-Str. 10, 91058, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Christian P Müller
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Clinic, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Schwabachanlage 6, 91054, Erlangen, Germany.
- Centre for Drug Research, University Sains Malaysia, Penang, Minden, Malaysia.
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Modrak CG, Giesler LP, Vonder Haar C. Traumatic brain injury substantially reduces the conditioned reinforcing effects of environmental cues in rats. Brain Res 2020; 1748:147084. [PMID: 32871136 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2020.147084] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/18/2020] [Revised: 08/21/2020] [Accepted: 08/24/2020] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Traumatic brain injury affects millions of people each year and is an established risk factor for addiction. Recent animal studies have causally demonstrated that injuries can increase drug self-administration across a variety of substances. One potential behavioral mediator for this finding is an increased responsivity to drug-associated cues. This endophenotype can be identified by profiling non-drug-related behaviors. The current study evaluated several paradigms (conditioned approach, conditioned reinforcement, extinction from variable interval responding, conditioned facilitation) to determine how rats with a frontal TBI differed in their response to Pavlovian conditioning in response to food-paired cues. Surprisingly, rats with a TBI demonstrated increased goal-tracking in a conditioned approach paradigm and exerted less effort for a conditioned reinforcer. Moreover, they had slightly facilitated extinction (as demonstrated by significantly larger interresponse times) in the face of reinforcer-associated cues. Despite these effects, TBI rats still demonstrated conditioned facilitation to an auditory stimulus. Together, these effects suggest a phenotype in the opposite direction of what might be anticipated. Cues still served a strong discriminative function and altered behavior; however, they did not function as strong conditioned reinforcers for TBI animals. One potential reason for this is that substantial changes to the dopamine system after TBI may reduce the conditioned reinforcing effects of cues, but sensitize the brain to potent drugs of abuse. More research will be needed to determine whether this is the case.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cassandra G Modrak
- Injury and Recovery Laboratory, Department of Psychology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA
| | - Lauren P Giesler
- Injury and Recovery Laboratory, Department of Psychology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA
| | - Cole Vonder Haar
- Injury and Recovery Laboratory, Department of Psychology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA; Department of Neuroscience, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA.
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Eagle DM, Schepisi C, Chugh S, Desai S, Han SYS, Huang T, Lee JJ, Sobala C, Ye W, Milton AL, Robbins TW. Dissociable dopaminergic and pavlovian influences in goal-trackers and sign-trackers on a model of compulsive checking in OCD. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2020; 237:3569-3581. [PMID: 32886158 PMCID: PMC7683452 DOI: 10.1007/s00213-020-05636-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2020] [Accepted: 08/07/2020] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
RATIONALE Checking is a functional behaviour that provides information to guide behaviour. However, in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), checking may escalate to dysfunctional levels. The processes underpinning the transition from functional to dysfunctional checking are unclear but may be associated with individual differences that support the development of maladaptive behaviour. We examined one such predisposition, sign-tracking to a pavlovian conditioned stimulus, which we previously found associated with dysfunctional checking. How sign-tracking interacts with another treatment with emerging translational validity for OCD-like checking, chronic administration of the dopamine D2 receptor agonist quinpirole, is unknown. OBJECTIVES We tested how functional and dysfunctional checking in the rat observing response task (ORT) was affected by chronic quinpirole administration in non-autoshaped controls and autoshaped animals classified as sign-trackers or goal-trackers. METHODS Sign-trackers or goal-trackers were trained on the ORT before the effects of chronic quinpirole administration on checking were assessed. Subsequently, the effects on checking of different behavioural challenges, including reward omission and the use of unpredictable reinforcement schedules, were tested. RESULTS Prior autoshaping increased checking. Sign-trackers and goal-trackers responded differently to quinpirole sensitization, reward omission and reinforcement uncertainty. Sign-trackers showed greater elevations in dysfunctional checking, particularly during uncertainty. By contrast, goal-trackers predominantly increased functional checking responses, possibly in response to reduced discrimination accuracy in the absence of cues signalling which lever was currently active. CONCLUSIONS The results are discussed in terms of how pavlovian associations influence behaviour that becomes compulsive in OCD and how this may be dependent on striatal dopamine D2 receptors.
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Affiliation(s)
- D. M. Eagle
- grid.5335.00000000121885934Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Site, Cambridge, CB2 3EB UK
| | - C. Schepisi
- grid.5335.00000000121885934Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Site, Cambridge, CB2 3EB UK ,grid.7841.aSapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - S. Chugh
- grid.5335.00000000121885934Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Site, Cambridge, CB2 3EB UK
| | - S. Desai
- grid.5335.00000000121885934Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Site, Cambridge, CB2 3EB UK
| | - S. Y. S. Han
- grid.5335.00000000121885934Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Site, Cambridge, CB2 3EB UK
| | - T. Huang
- grid.5335.00000000121885934Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Site, Cambridge, CB2 3EB UK
| | - J. J. Lee
- grid.5335.00000000121885934Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Site, Cambridge, CB2 3EB UK ,grid.5337.20000 0004 1936 7603University of Bristol, Bristol, UK ,grid.83440.3b0000000121901201University College London, London, UK
| | - C. Sobala
- grid.5335.00000000121885934Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Site, Cambridge, CB2 3EB UK
| | - W. Ye
- grid.5335.00000000121885934Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Site, Cambridge, CB2 3EB UK ,grid.4991.50000 0004 1936 8948Oxford University Clinical Academic Graduate School, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - A. L. Milton
- grid.5335.00000000121885934Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Site, Cambridge, CB2 3EB UK
| | - T. W. Robbins
- grid.5335.00000000121885934Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Site, Cambridge, CB2 3EB UK
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Flagel SB, Robinson TE. Neurobiological Basis of Individual Variation in Stimulus-Reward Learning. Curr Opin Behav Sci 2017; 13:178-185. [PMID: 28670608 PMCID: PMC5486979 DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2016.12.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 74] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Cues in the environment can guide behavior in adaptive ways, leading one towards valuable resources such as food, water, or a potential mate. However, cues in the environment may also serve as powerful motivators that lead to maladaptive patterns of behavior, such as addiction. Importantly, and central to this article, there is considerable individual variation in the extent to which reward cues gain motivational control over behavior. Here we describe an animal model that captures this individual variation, allowing us to better understand the psychological and neurobiological processes that contribute to cue-evoked behaviors. When a discrete cue is paired with a food reward in a Pavlovian manner it acquires greater control over motivated behavior in some rats ("sign-trackers, STs) than in others ("goal-trackers", GTs). We review studies that have exploited this animal model to parse the neurobiological mechanisms involved in learning associations between stimuli vs. those involved in attributing incentive salience to those same stimuli. The latter seems to be dependent on dopamine and subcortical circuits, whereas the former may engage more cortical "top-down" mechanisms.
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