Citation

Caprioli D, Sawiak SJ, Merlo E, Theobald DE, Spoelder M, Jupp B, Voon V, Carpenter TA, Everitt BJ, Robbins TW, Dalley JW. Biol. Psychiatry 2014; 75(2): 115-123.

Affiliation

Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute and Department of Psychology (DC, SJS, EM, DEHT, BJ, VV, TAC, BJE, TWR, JWD), University of Cambridge. Electronic address: daniele.caprioli@nih.gov.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.biopsych.2013.07.013

PMID

23973096

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Pathological forms of impulsivity are manifest in a number of psychiatric disorders listed in DSM-5, including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and substance use disorder. However, the molecular and cellular substrates of impulsivity are poorly understood. Here, we investigated a specific form of motor impulsivity in rats, namely premature responding, on a five-choice serial reaction time task. METHODS: We used in vivo voxel-based magnetic resonance imaging and ex vivo Western blot analyses to investigate putative structural, neuronal, and glial protein markers in low-impulsive (LI) and high-impulsive rats. We also investigated whether messenger RNA interference targeting glutamate decarboxylase 65/67 (GAD65/67) gene expression in the nucleus accumbens core (NAcbC) is sufficient to increase impulsivity in LI rats. RESULTS: We identified structural and molecular abnormalities in the NAcbC associated with motor impulsivity in rats. We report a reduction in gray matter density in the left NAcbC of high-impulsive rats, with corresponding reductions in this region of glutamate decarboxylase (GAD65/67) and markers of dendritic spines and microtubules. We further demonstrate that the experimental reduction of de novo of GAD65/67 expression bilaterally in the NAcbC is sufficient to increase impulsivity in LI rats. CONCLUSIONS: These results reveal a novel mechanism of impulsivity in rats involving gamma aminobutyric acidergic and structural abnormalities in the NAcbC with potential relevance to the etiology and treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and related disorders.

Language: en