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Prados-Pardo Á, Martín-González E, Mora S, Martín C, Olmedo-Córdoba M, Pérez-Fernandez C, Sánchez-Santed F, Moreno-Montoya M. Reduced Expression of the Htr2a, Grin1, and Bdnf Genes and Cognitive Inflexibility in a Model of High Compulsive Rats. Mol Neurobiol 2023; 60:6975-6991. [PMID: 37523044 DOI: 10.1007/s12035-023-03506-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2023] [Accepted: 07/12/2023] [Indexed: 08/01/2023]
Abstract
Compulsivity is a core symptom in different psychopathological disorders, characterized by excessive behaviors and behavioral inflexibility. The selection of high drinker (HD) versus low drinker (LD) rats by schedule-induced polydipsia (SIP) is a valid model for studying the compulsive phenotype. The compulsive HD rats showed cognitive inflexibility and reduced serotonin 2A (5-HT2A) receptor binding levels in the frontal cortex (FC). According to that, we hypothesize that compulsive HD rats might have an alteration in the cognitive control domain regarding inflexibility, assessed by spatial memory on the Morris Water Maze (MWM), working and reference memory by the Radial Arm Maze, and behavioral deficits in stimulus processing by the Novel Object Recognition test. The possible underlying mechanisms might be linked to the brain gene expression of 5HT2A, 5HT2C, glutamate NMDA receptors, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in FC, hippocampus, and amygdala. HD rats confirmed a cognitive inflexibility profile on the reversal condition in the MWM compared to LD rats, while no differences were observed on stimulus processing, spatial, and working memory. Moreover, HD rats showed a reduced expression of the Htr2a, Grin1, and Bdnf genes in FC. Furthermore, there was a negative correlation between the relative expression of the Htr2a, Grin1, and Bdnf genes in FC and the level of compulsive water intake in HD rats on SIP. These data reveal that cognitive inflexibility may not be associated with a memory or stimulus processing deficit in compulsive individuals but may result by a region-specific alteration of the Htr2a, Grin1, and Bdnf gene expression in FC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ángeles Prados-Pardo
- Department of Psychology and Health Research Center CEINSA, University of Almería, Ctra. Sacramento, s/n, 04120, Almería, Spain
| | - Elena Martín-González
- Department of Psychology and Health Research Center CEINSA, University of Almería, Ctra. Sacramento, s/n, 04120, Almería, Spain
| | - Santiago Mora
- Department of Neuroscience and Panum Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Carlos Martín
- Department of Psychology and Health Research Center CEINSA, University of Almería, Ctra. Sacramento, s/n, 04120, Almería, Spain
| | - Manuela Olmedo-Córdoba
- Department of Psychology and Health Research Center CEINSA, University of Almería, Ctra. Sacramento, s/n, 04120, Almería, Spain
| | - Cristian Pérez-Fernandez
- Department of Psychology and Health Research Center CEINSA, University of Almería, Ctra. Sacramento, s/n, 04120, Almería, Spain
| | - Fernando Sánchez-Santed
- Department of Psychology and Health Research Center CEINSA, University of Almería, Ctra. Sacramento, s/n, 04120, Almería, Spain
| | - Margarita Moreno-Montoya
- Department of Psychology and Health Research Center CEINSA, University of Almería, Ctra. Sacramento, s/n, 04120, Almería, Spain.
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Martín-González E, Prados-Pardo Á, Sawiak SJ, Dalley JW, Padro D, Ramos-Cabrer P, Mora S, Moreno-Montoya M. Mapping the neuroanatomical abnormalities in a phenotype of male compulsive rats. BEHAVIORAL AND BRAIN FUNCTIONS : BBF 2023; 19:19. [PMID: 37932782 PMCID: PMC10626819 DOI: 10.1186/s12993-023-00221-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2022] [Accepted: 10/28/2023] [Indexed: 11/08/2023]
Abstract
Compulsivity is considered a transdiagnostic dimension in obsessive-compulsive and related disorders, characterized by heterogeneous cognitive and behavioral phenotypes associated with abnormalities in cortico-striatal-thalamic-cortical circuitry. The present study investigated the structural morphology of white and gray matter in rats selected for low- (LD) and high- (HD) compulsive drinking behavior on a schedule-induced polydipsia (SIP) task. Regional brain morphology was assessed using ex-vivo high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Voxel-based morphometry of segmented MRI images revealed larger white matter volumes in anterior commissure and corpus callosum of HD rats compared with LD rats. HD rats also showed significantly larger regional volumes of dorsolateral orbitofrontal cortex, striatum, amygdala, hippocampus, midbrain, sub-thalamic nucleus, and cerebellum. By contrast, the medial prefrontal cortex was significantly smaller in HD rats compared with LD rats with no significant group differences in whole brain, ventricular, or cerebrospinal fluid volumes. These findings show that limbic cortico-basal ganglia structures implicated in impulse control disorders are distinct in rats that are vulnerable to develop compulsive behavior. Such abnormalities may be relevant to the etiology of compulsive disorders in humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elena Martín-González
- Department of Psychology and Health Research Centre (CEINSA), University of Almería, Carretera de Sacramento s/n, 04120, Almería, Spain
| | - Ángeles Prados-Pardo
- Department of Psychology and Health Research Centre (CEINSA), University of Almería, Carretera de Sacramento s/n, 04120, Almería, Spain
| | - Stephen J Sawiak
- Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Jeffrey W Dalley
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Daniel Padro
- Center for Cooperative Research in Biomaterials (CIC biomaGUNE), Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Paseo Miramón 182, 20014, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain
| | - Pedro Ramos-Cabrer
- Center for Cooperative Research in Biomaterials (CIC biomaGUNE), Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Paseo Miramón 182, 20014, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain
- Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, 48013, Bilbao, Spain
| | - Santiago Mora
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Copenhagen Panum Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Margarita Moreno-Montoya
- Department of Psychology and Health Research Centre (CEINSA), University of Almería, Carretera de Sacramento s/n, 04120, Almería, Spain.
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Demaria F, Pontillo M, Bellantoni D, Di Vincenzo C, Vicari S. Phenomenological Considerations of the World of the Obsessive Patient. J Clin Med 2023; 12:4193. [PMID: 37445230 DOI: 10.3390/jcm12134193] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2023] [Revised: 06/13/2023] [Accepted: 06/20/2023] [Indexed: 07/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Despite significant scientific advances in research on obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), the psychological and behavioral symptoms of this pathological condition remain hard to understand, until they seem paradoxical. The present work seeks to consider the significance and potential contribution of a phenomenological reading of OCD and how phenomenalism has influenced some cognitive models of this disorder. Transcendental phenomenology is a philosophical approach that attaches primary importance to intuitive experience and considers all phenomena intrinsically associated with the subject's inner world. Thus, the subject's intuition is considered the starting point for understanding their essential experience. This approach has had a profound influence on modern cognitive sciences. Among current cognitive models, post-rationalist cognitivism and cognitive neuropsychological psychotherapy seem most effective in capturing the world experiences of OCD patients. Both apply a phenomenological approach to identify these experiences, which are typically characterized by hyper-reflexivity, at the expense of 'natural evidence.' The models have found that OCD patients experience the world emotionally as a sterile set of rules, and this experience determines their suffering.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesco Demaria
- Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry Unit, Department of Neuroscience, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, IRCCS, 00146 Rome, Italy
| | - Maria Pontillo
- Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry Unit, Department of Neuroscience, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, IRCCS, 00146 Rome, Italy
| | - Domenica Bellantoni
- Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry Unit, Department of Neuroscience, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, IRCCS, 00146 Rome, Italy
| | - Cristina Di Vincenzo
- Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry Unit, Department of Neuroscience, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, IRCCS, 00146 Rome, Italy
| | - Stefano Vicari
- Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry Unit, Department of Neuroscience, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, IRCCS, 00146 Rome, Italy
- Department of Life Sciences and Public Health, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, 00168 Rome, Italy
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Martín-González E, Olmedo-Córdoba M, Prados-Pardo Á, Cruz-Garzón DJ, Flores P, Mora S, Moreno-Montoya M. Behavioral domains in compulsive rats: implications for understanding compulsive spectrum disorders. Front Behav Neurosci 2023; 17:1175137. [PMID: 37273281 PMCID: PMC10234153 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2023.1175137] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2023] [Accepted: 04/21/2023] [Indexed: 06/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction Compulsive behavior has been proposed as a transdiagnostic trait observed in different neuropsychiatric disorders, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, autism, and schizophrenia. Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) strategy could help to disentangle the neuropsychological basis of compulsivity for developing new therapeutic and preventive approaches. In preclinical research, the selection of high-drinker (HD) vs. low-drinker (LD) animals by schedule-induced polydipsia (SIP) is considered a putative model of compulsivity, which includes a well-differentiated behavioral pattern. Methods The purpose of this research was to assess the cognitive control and the negative valence system domains in a phenotype of compulsive HD rats. After the selection of animals as HD or LD, we assessed behavioral inflexibility by probabilistic spatial reversal learning (PSRL), motor and cognitive impulsivity by variable delay-to-signal (VDS), and risky decision-making by rodent gambling task (rGT). Results HD rats performed fewer reversals and showed less probability of pressing the same lever that was previously reinforced on PSRL, more premature responses after the exposure to longer delays on VDS, and more disadvantageous risky choices on rGT. Moreover, HD animals performed more perseverative responses under the punishment period on rGT. Discussion These results highlight that HD compulsive phenotype exhibits behavioral inflexibility, insensitivity to positive feedback, waiting impulsivity, risky decision-making, and frustrative non-reward responsiveness. Moreover, these findings demonstrate the importance of mapping different behavioral domains to prevent, treat, and diagnose compulsive spectrum disorders correctly.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elena Martín-González
- Department of Psychology and Health Research Centre (CEINSA), University of Almería, Almería, Spain
| | - Manuela Olmedo-Córdoba
- Department of Psychology and Health Research Centre (CEINSA), University of Almería, Almería, Spain
| | - Ángeles Prados-Pardo
- Department of Psychology and Health Research Centre (CEINSA), University of Almería, Almería, Spain
| | - Daniel J. Cruz-Garzón
- Department of Psychology and Health Research Centre (CEINSA), University of Almería, Almería, Spain
| | - Pilar Flores
- Department of Psychology and Health Research Centre (CEINSA), University of Almería, Almería, Spain
| | - Santiago Mora
- Department of Neuroscience and Panum Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Margarita Moreno-Montoya
- Department of Psychology and Health Research Centre (CEINSA), University of Almería, Almería, Spain
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Milton AL. Editorial introduction: animal models relevant to mental health disorders. Emerg Top Life Sci 2022; 6:441-443. [PMID: 36484519 DOI: 10.1042/etls20220094] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2022] [Revised: 11/29/2022] [Accepted: 11/29/2022] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Mental health disorders affect a substantial proportion of the worldwide population, and currently available treatments do not work for all affected individuals. Understanding the psychological and biological mechanisms that underlie mental health disorders will facilitate treatment development, and the use of translational animal models is potentially transformative for this. Structured around the US National Institute of Mental Health's 'Research Domain Criteria' (RDoC) approach, this special issue showcases reviews that consider how animal models can best be used to understand and treat the processes that go awry in mental health disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amy L Milton
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, U.K
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