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Developmental emergence of an obsessive-compulsive phenotype and binge behavior in rats

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Abstract

Rationale

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) gradually emerges and reaches clinical significance during early adulthood. Whether a predisposition for OCD manifests as binge eating disorder earlier during adolescence is proposed.

Objectives

To further characterize how OCD-like behaviors increase across maturation and to determine whether an OCD-like predisposition increases the likelihood of binge eating during adolescence.

Methods

Male and female Sprague-Dawley rats were injected with the tricyclic antidepressant clomipramine (CMI, 15 mg/kg) or saline vehicle twice daily between postnatal days 9–15. Both groups were tested for perseverative (spontaneous alternation) and anxiety-like (elevated plus maze; marble burying) behaviors during juvenility (day 28), adolescence (day 60), and adulthood (day 90). Both motivations to eat sucrose pellets and binge eating on fat were investigated.

Results

Sex- and age-dependent increases in anxiety-like and perseverative behavior were observed in CMI subjects. Differences in consummatory behaviors emerged during late adolescence, while no significant differences in alternation or anxiety-like behaviors were detected between CMI and vehicle animals until adulthood. Adolescent CMI females consumed more sucrose pellets in 30 min relative to vehicle females, whereas adolescent CMI males consumed approximately half as much as vehicle males. Sucrose consumption did not differ between groups in adulthood. Adolescent CMI rats demonstrated more fat bingeing than vehicles, independent of sex.

Conclusions

OCD-like behaviors are emerging during adolescence, but sucrose consumption and fat bingeing in CMI-treated animals significantly precedes the appearance of anxiety and perseveration. This OCD-like phenotype emerges fully during adulthood, suggesting that eating may likely serve as a coping strategy in these animals.

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Abbreviations

BED:

binge eating disorder

CMI:

clomipramine

EPM:

elevated plus maze

FR:

fixed ratio

OCD:

obsessive-compulsive disorder

P:

postnatal day

PR:

progressive ratio

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the Judah Family Foundation for OCD Research and the Simches family for their unwavering support. Jodi Lukkes is acknowledged for her help with training the animals.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Developmental Neuropharmacology, McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 115 Mill St, Belmont, MA, 02478, USA

    Nadja Freund, Britta S. Thompson, Kevin J. Norman, Patrick Einhorn & Susan L. Andersen

  2. Department of Psychiatry, McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 333, 115 Mill Street, Belmont, 020478, MA, USA

    Nadja Freund & Susan L. Andersen

  3. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    Nadja Freund

  4. Department of Psychology, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, 02467, USA

    Patrick Einhorn

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  1. Nadja Freund
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  2. Britta S. Thompson
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  5. Susan L. Andersen
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Correspondence to Susan L. Andersen.

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Freund, N., Thompson, B.S., Norman, K.J. et al. Developmental emergence of an obsessive-compulsive phenotype and binge behavior in rats. Psychopharmacology 232, 3173–3181 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-015-3967-1

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