Behavioural PharmacologyPub Date : 2025-06-01Epub Date: 2024-12-16DOI: 10.1097/FBP.0000000000000809
Ronan Depoortère, Mariusz Papp, Piotr Gruca, Ewa Litwa, Magdalena Lason, Dominika Biała, Adrian Newman-Tancredi
{"title":"The antidepressant-like activity of ketamine in the rat chronic mild stress model requires activation of cortical 5-HT 1A receptors.","authors":"Ronan Depoortère, Mariusz Papp, Piotr Gruca, Ewa Litwa, Magdalena Lason, Dominika Biała, Adrian Newman-Tancredi","doi":"10.1097/FBP.0000000000000809","DOIUrl":"10.1097/FBP.0000000000000809","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Ketamine displays efficacious rapid-acting antidepressant (RAAD) activity in the rat chronic mild stress (CMS) model. It rapidly reverses anhedonia (CMS-induced sucrose consumption deficit) and attenuates working memory deficit (novel object recognition: NOR) following both systemic (intraperitoneal, i.p.) administration or local administration in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). However, the receptor mechanisms underlying these effects remain to be clarified and may involve activation of serotonin 5-HT 1A receptors, as previously found in experiments using the forced swim test. The present study explored the contribution of PFC 5-HT 1A receptors in ketamine's RAAD activity in the CMS model. Ketamine (10 mg/kg i.p.) reversed CMS-induced sucrose consumption and working memory (NOR test) deficits. Notably, unilateral PFC microinjections of a 5-HT 1A receptor antagonist, WAY-100635 (2 µg), prevented the antidepressant-like and pro-cognitive activity of systemic ketamine on sucrose consumption and working memory deficits. These data indicate that the RAAD activity of ketamine in the rat CMS model requires activation of PFC 5-HT 1A receptors. They also reinforce the notion that drugs that directly activate PFC 5-HT 1A receptors could constitute an alternative to ketamine as a promising strategy to achieve RAAD effects, with additional benefits against cognitive deficits in depressed patients, but without ketamine's troublesome side-effects and requirements for in-patient supervision.</p>","PeriodicalId":8832,"journal":{"name":"Behavioural Pharmacology","volume":" ","pages":"182-188"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142881072","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Behavioural PharmacologyPub Date : 2025-06-01Epub Date: 2025-05-07DOI: 10.1097/FBP.0000000000000827
Samuel Budniok
{"title":"The complexity of socially transmitted food preferences in rodents: a model for human epistemic trust?","authors":"Samuel Budniok","doi":"10.1097/FBP.0000000000000827","DOIUrl":"10.1097/FBP.0000000000000827","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Social safety learning refers to the process by which animals indirectly learn about the safety of novel stimuli. This process is critical when rodents decide what to eat since they lack the capacity to vomit, reducing their ability to expel ingested toxins. Consequently, rodents display neophobia when encountering novel food, but are more likely to eat the food when a conspecific signals its safety. This natural behavior is modeled using the social transmission of food preference (STFP) paradigm. Based on behavioral and neural insights into STFP, I argue in the current work that its acquisition may involve cognitive processes that extend beyond social safety learning. Specifically, I argue that STFP acquisition may parallel functional aspects of human epistemic trust. Epistemic trust refers to trust in communicated knowledge, enabling humans to learn from, adapt to, and respond to their (social) environment. This perspective could position the STFP paradigm as a valuable tool to investigate the neurobiology of cognitive processes that may be relevant to human epistemic trust. Given the importance of epistemic trust in therapeutic settings, understanding its neurobiology may have direct clinical implications.</p>","PeriodicalId":8832,"journal":{"name":"Behavioural Pharmacology","volume":"36 4","pages":"196-201"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143963828","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Behavioural PharmacologyPub Date : 2025-06-01Epub Date: 2025-05-07DOI: 10.1097/FBP.0000000000000829
Bart A Ellenbroek, Louk J M J Vanderschuren, Gernot Riedel
{"title":"In memory of Dr Emily Jutkiewicz, 1975-2024.","authors":"Bart A Ellenbroek, Louk J M J Vanderschuren, Gernot Riedel","doi":"10.1097/FBP.0000000000000829","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1097/FBP.0000000000000829","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":8832,"journal":{"name":"Behavioural Pharmacology","volume":"36 4","pages":"161-162"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143953162","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Behavioural PharmacologyPub Date : 2025-06-01Epub Date: 2025-04-01DOI: 10.1097/FBP.0000000000000826
Justyna K Hinchcliffe, Sarah A Stuart, Emma S J Robinson
{"title":"Investigating the effects of different herbal preparations, 5-hydroxytryptophan and involuntary exercise on affective bias modification in male Lister Hooded rats.","authors":"Justyna K Hinchcliffe, Sarah A Stuart, Emma S J Robinson","doi":"10.1097/FBP.0000000000000826","DOIUrl":"10.1097/FBP.0000000000000826","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Mood disorders are a prevalent global health concern with natural health products, including herbal supplements, an increasingly popular choice as an alternative or complementary therapy. Despite their widespread use, few studies have tested the clinical efficacy of natural health products or explored their underlying mechanisms in animal models. Modification of affective biases has been linked to mood in humans and animal models and may provide insights into potential antidepressant effects. In this study, we used a translational rodent model of affective bias modification to investigate the effects of five commonly used supplements: Hypericum perforatum , that is, St. John's Wort (SJW), Mucuna pruriens , Rhodiola rosea root extract, Valerian root extract and 5-hydroxytryptophan. Exercise is also thought to improve mood disorders, but clinical studies reveal mixed results therefore we also tested the effect of involuntary exercise on affective biases. In separate experiments, male Lister Hooded rats were acutely treated with SJW, Mucuna pruriens , Rhodiola rosea root extract, Valerian root extract and 5-hydroxytryptophan, or underwent an involuntary exercise manipulation. Our results showed a significant positive affective bias following treatment with SJW, whilst the involuntary exercise induced a negative affective bias in rats. No effects were found following the other acute treatments. These data suggest SJW has similar effects in terms of affective bias modification as conventional antidepressants. The negative affective bias observed with involuntary exercise suggests the animals experience a negative affective state and suggests exercise-based therapy may be less effective if the patient perceives this as involuntary.</p>","PeriodicalId":8832,"journal":{"name":"Behavioural Pharmacology","volume":" ","pages":"189-195"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143762527","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Behavioural PharmacologyPub Date : 2025-06-01Epub Date: 2025-05-07DOI: 10.1097/FBP.0000000000000819
Emma S J Robinson
{"title":"Delivering a new generation of translational animal models for depression research.","authors":"Emma S J Robinson","doi":"10.1097/FBP.0000000000000819","DOIUrl":"10.1097/FBP.0000000000000819","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Early animal models of depression focused on developing methods that could predict treatment efficacy and were validated based on pharmacological responses to known antidepressants. As our understanding of major depressive disorder (MDD) and the pharmacology of antidepressants progressed, so did the need for better animal models. This need was met with the development of new disease models, such as the chronic mild stress model, and behavioural readouts such as the sucrose preference test, which more closely aligned with risk factors and symptoms seen in patients. These approaches have supported huge advances in the understanding of how stress affects the brain and impacts on reward-related behaviours. However, there remain significant challenges when trying to model complex psychiatric symptoms and disorders in non-human animals. In this perspective article, a brief history of animal models of depression and associated readouts is discussed with specific reference to the important contributions from Paul Willner. The main discussion then focuses on translational validity and approaches that may support delivering this objective. This is illustrated with the example of the affective bias test and reward learning assays, which have been developed to recapitulate in animals the neuropsychological impairments observed in MDD and modulation by antidepressants.</p>","PeriodicalId":8832,"journal":{"name":"Behavioural Pharmacology","volume":"36 4","pages":"175-181"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143957572","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Behavioural PharmacologyPub Date : 2025-06-01Epub Date: 2025-05-07DOI: 10.1097/FBP.0000000000000816
Kate M Witt, David N Harper, Bart A Ellenbroek
{"title":"A review on the validity of animal models for neuropsychiatric disorders: an exploration of anhedonia.","authors":"Kate M Witt, David N Harper, Bart A Ellenbroek","doi":"10.1097/FBP.0000000000000816","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1097/FBP.0000000000000816","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Despite major advances in neuroscience, there has been limited progress in improving pharmacological treatment for neuropsychiatric disorders. Neuropsychiatric disorders are heterogeneous with variance in symptoms within disorders and partial overlap in symptoms between disorders, leading to symptoms that remain untreated. To improve treatment outcomes, neuroscience has shifted to examining the neurobiological mechanisms underlying individual components, or dysfunctions, across disorders. Anhedonia, a decreased capacity to experience pleasure from positive stimuli or rewards, is a prominent symptom associated with poor functional outcome across neuropsychiatric disorders. This article reflects on Professor Paul Willner's contributions to the field of behavioural neuroscience, specifically his promotion of validity in animal models of neuropsychiatric disorders. Research can build upon Willner's scholarship by continuing to refine and explore the validity of animal models as our understanding of neuropsychiatric disorders improves. To exemplify this, we discuss current understanding of the neurobiological basis and clinical presentation of the two domains of anhedonia: anticipation and consumption. We argue for the examination of anticipatory anhedonia and consummatory anhedonia within a single paradigm to improve understanding of these domains, aligning animal models to the clinical reality in humans.</p>","PeriodicalId":8832,"journal":{"name":"Behavioural Pharmacology","volume":"36 4","pages":"165-170"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143968079","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Behavioural PharmacologyPub Date : 2025-06-01Epub Date: 2025-05-07DOI: 10.1097/FBP.0000000000000817
Morgane Colom, Amy L Milton, Trevor W Robbins
{"title":"'Only connect': cognition meets motivation as cognitive effort to enhance models of depression.","authors":"Morgane Colom, Amy L Milton, Trevor W Robbins","doi":"10.1097/FBP.0000000000000817","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1097/FBP.0000000000000817","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":8832,"journal":{"name":"Behavioural Pharmacology","volume":"36 4","pages":"171-174"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143972740","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The effects of cannabinoid agonism on auditory discrimination.","authors":"Danielle Nykanen, Hannah Stiffler, Merrick Bay, Cameron Goldie, Shinnyi Chou, Natashia Swalve","doi":"10.1097/FBP.0000000000000811","DOIUrl":"10.1097/FBP.0000000000000811","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Recent evidence suggests that cannabis can impair simple auditory processes, and these alterations might be due to cannabinoid agonism. The effect of cannabinoid agonism on relatively complex processes such as auditory discrimination is unknown. The goal of this study was to examine the impact of WIN 55,212-2, a CB 1 receptor and CB 2 receptor agonism, on auditory discrimination using a go/no-go task. Twenty-two male and female Sprague-Dawley rats were initially trained to lever-press for sucrose to either a pure tone or white noise cue in a go/no-go paradigm, where rats were reinforced for lever-pressing during one cue and punished for lever-pressing during the other auditory cue. After criterion performance was met, rats were then injected with WIN 55,212-2 at 1.2 mg/kg, 3 mg/kg, or a corresponding vehicle (saline) and were tested on auditory discrimination. On day 3, active lever-pressing was higher in both the low- and high-dose WIN groups compared with the saline group. Overall lever-pressing decreased over time in the high-dose WIN 55,212-2 group. There were no effects of the drug on discrimination or errors, suggesting that cannabinoid agonism did not negatively affect auditory discrimination. This is the first study to examine the impact of cannabinoids on the discrimination of tones, finding that, contrary to previous research, the low and high doses of WIN 55,212-2 did not adversely impact auditory-linked behaviors.</p>","PeriodicalId":8832,"journal":{"name":"Behavioural Pharmacology","volume":" ","pages":"71-75"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142880987","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Behavioural PharmacologyPub Date : 2025-04-01Epub Date: 2025-02-20DOI: 10.1097/FBP.0000000000000813
Eghbal Jasemi, Ali Razmi, Salar Vaseghi, Shayan Amiri, S Mahmoud A Najafi
{"title":"The effect of Psilocybe cubensis alkaloids on depressive-like behavior in mice exposed to maternal separation with respect to hippocampal gene expression and DNA methylation of Slc6a4 and Nr3c1.","authors":"Eghbal Jasemi, Ali Razmi, Salar Vaseghi, Shayan Amiri, S Mahmoud A Najafi","doi":"10.1097/FBP.0000000000000813","DOIUrl":"10.1097/FBP.0000000000000813","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Maternal separation as an early life stress can lead to long-lasting deleterious effects on cognitive and behavioral functions, and the mood state. On the other hand, Psilocybe cubensis (as one of the most well-known magic mushrooms) may be beneficial in the improvement or the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the effect of P. cubensis extract (PCE) on depressive-like and anxiety-like behaviors, and locomotor activity in mice exposed to early maternal separation. Also, we assessed the expression and methylation level of Slc6a4 and Nr3c1 in the hippocampus. Maternal separation was done in postnatal days (PNDs) 2-18. PCE was intraperitoneally injected at the dose of 20 mg/kg at PND 60, and our tests were done at days 1, 3, and 10, of administration. The results showed that maternal separation significantly induced depressive-like behavior in the forced swim test and anxiety-like behavior in the open field test (OFT). Also, maternal separation decreased locomotor activity in the OFT. In addition, maternal separation decreased the expression and increased the methylation level of both Slc6a4 and Nr3c1 in the hippocampus. However, PCE significantly reversed all these effects. In conclusion, it seems that P. cubensis affects serotonergic signaling via altering Slc6a4 expression and methylation level in the hippocampus of mice. The effect of P. cubensis on Nr3c1 expression and methylation level may also lead to alter the function of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis and the stress response in mice exposed to maternal separation.</p>","PeriodicalId":8832,"journal":{"name":"Behavioural Pharmacology","volume":" ","pages":"115-126"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143447898","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}