Citation

McKibben CE, Reynolds GP, Jenkins TA. J. Psychopharmacol. 2014; 28(10): 955-963.

Affiliation

Division of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, UK School of Medical Sciences, Health Innovations Research Institute, RMIT University, Bundoora, VIC, Australia trisha.jenkins@rmit.edu.au.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0269881114544778

PMID

25122039

Abstract

Both acute and sub-chronic phencyclidine administration produce behavioural and pathophysiological changes that resemble some features of schizophrenia. The present study aimed to determine if acute and sub-chronic phencyclidine treatment in male rats produces deficits in sociability and social novelty preference, which may reflect aspects of the negative symptomatology observed in schizophrenia. Rats were treated with phencyclidine acutely (2 or 5 mg/kg) or subchronically (2 or 5 mg/kg bi-daily for one week followed by a one week wash-out period) or vehicle. Social affiliative behaviour was assessed using the sociability and preference for social novelty paradigm where social interaction time was measured in (a) a chamber containing an unfamiliar conspecific vs an empty chamber (sociability), or (b) a chamber containing an unfamiliar conspecific vs a chamber containing a familiar conspecific (preference for social novelty).

RESULTS showed that acute administration of phencyclidine produced a reduction in measures of sociability but had no effect on preference for social novelty while sub-chronic administration of phencyclidine had no effect on sociability or social novelty. This study provides further evidence for the usefulness of phencyclidine models in modelling the symptomatology of schizophrenia.

Language: en