1
|
Fernández-Teruel A, Cañete T, Sampedro-Viana D, Oliveras I, Torrubia R, Tobeña A. Contribution of the Roman rat lines/strains to personality neuroscience: neurobehavioral modeling of internalizing/externalizing psychopathologies. PERSONALITY NEUROSCIENCE 2023; 6:e8. [PMID: 38107777 PMCID: PMC10725777 DOI: 10.1017/pen.2023.7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2023] [Revised: 07/28/2023] [Accepted: 08/04/2023] [Indexed: 12/19/2023]
Abstract
The Roman high-avoidance (RHA) and low-avoidance (RLA) rat lines/strains were established in Rome through bidirectional selection of Wistar rats for rapid (RHA) or extremely poor (RLA) acquisition of a two-way active avoidance task. Relative to RHAs, RLA rats exhibit enhanced threat sensitivity, anxiety, fear and vulnerability to stress, a passive coping style and increased sensitivity to frustration. Thus, RLA rats' phenotypic profile falls well within the "internalizing" behavior spectrum. Compared with RLAs and other rat strains/stocks, RHAs present increased impulsivity and reward sensitivity, deficits in social behavior and attentional/cognitive processes, novelty-induced hyper-locomotion and vulnerability to psychostimulant sensitization and drug addiction. Thus, RHA rats' phenotypes are consistent with a "disinhibiting externalizing" profile. Many neurobiological/molecular traits differentiate both rat lines/strains. For example, relative to RLA rats, RHAs exhibit decreased function of the prefrontal cortex (PFC), hippocampus and amygdala, increased functional tone of the mesolimbic dopamine system, a deficit of central metabotropic glutamate-2 (mGlu2) receptors, increased density of serotonin 5-HT2A receptors in the PFC, impairment of GABAergic transmission in the PFC, alterations of several synaptic markers and increased density of pyramidal immature dendrític spines in the PFC. These characteristics suggest an immature brain of RHA rats and are reminiscent of schizophrenia features like hypofrontality and disruption of the excitation/inhibition cortical balance. We review evidence supporting RLA rats as a valid model of anxiety/fear, stress and frustration vulnerability, whereas RHA rats represent a promising translational model of neurodevelopmental alterations related to impulsivity, schizophrenia-relevant features and comorbidity with drug addiction vulnerability.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alberto Fernández-Teruel
- Medical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychiatry & Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine & Institute of Neurosciences, Autonomous University of Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Toni Cañete
- Medical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychiatry & Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine & Institute of Neurosciences, Autonomous University of Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Daniel Sampedro-Viana
- Medical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychiatry & Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine & Institute of Neurosciences, Autonomous University of Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Ignasi Oliveras
- Medical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychiatry & Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine & Institute of Neurosciences, Autonomous University of Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Rafael Torrubia
- Medical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychiatry & Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine & Institute of Neurosciences, Autonomous University of Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Adolf Tobeña
- Medical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychiatry & Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine & Institute of Neurosciences, Autonomous University of Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Oliveras I, Soria-Ruiz O, Sampedro-Viana D, Cañete T, Tobeña A, Fernández-Teruel A. Social preference in Roman rats: age and sex variations relevance for modeling negative schizophrenia-like features. Physiol Behav 2022; 247:113722. [PMID: 35077728 DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2022.113722] [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: 12/02/2021] [Revised: 01/19/2022] [Accepted: 01/21/2022] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Social withdrawal is one of the most relevant negative symptoms of schizophrenia. Animal models that mimic schizophrenia's symptoms, in general, and negative symptoms, in particular, are difficult to develop because of the high complexity of symptoms and neurochemical disturbances that schizophrenia patients display throughout their lives. In recent years we have shown that Roman High- Avoidance (RHA) rats exhibit some phenotypes that are thought to represent positive symptoms, cognitive/attentional symptoms, as well as some negative symptoms of the disease. In the present study, we aimed at elucidating whether the social interaction (SI) deficits exhibited by adult male RHA rats, compared to their Roman Low-Avoidance (RLA) counterparts, are also present during adolescence, as well as whether there are between-strain differences in adolescent and adult female rats. The results of the present study show that adult male RHA rats exhibited a deficit in social preference compared to their RLA counterparts. Such a deficit was not observed in adolescent RHA rats or female rats of any age. The results also show that the adult male rats of both strains had significant decreases in social preference compared to the adolescent male rats. Additionally, we also show that female adult RHA rats have greater social preference than their male counterparts. These results seem to be in line with previous rodent and human studies and add face validity to the RHA rats as a model of schizophrenia.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ignasi Oliveras
- Medical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychiatry & ForensicMedicine, Institute of Neurosciences, Autonomous University of Barcelona, 08193, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain.
| | - OscarJ Soria-Ruiz
- Medical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychiatry & ForensicMedicine, Institute of Neurosciences, Autonomous University of Barcelona, 08193, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Daniel Sampedro-Viana
- Medical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychiatry & ForensicMedicine, Institute of Neurosciences, Autonomous University of Barcelona, 08193, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Toni Cañete
- Medical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychiatry & ForensicMedicine, Institute of Neurosciences, Autonomous University of Barcelona, 08193, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Adolf Tobeña
- Medical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychiatry & ForensicMedicine, Institute of Neurosciences, Autonomous University of Barcelona, 08193, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Alberto Fernández-Teruel
- Medical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychiatry & ForensicMedicine, Institute of Neurosciences, Autonomous University of Barcelona, 08193, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain.
| |
Collapse
|