Altered Corticostriatal Connectivity and Exploration/Exploitation Imbalance Emerge as Intermediate Phenotypes for a Neonatal Dopamine Dysfunction.

ABSTRACT: Findings showing that neonatal lesions of the forebrain dopaminergic system in rodents lead to juvenile locomotor hyperactivity and learning deficits have been taken as evidence of face validity for the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. However, the core cognitive and physiological intermediate phenotypes underlying this rodent syndrome remain unknown. Here we show that early postnatal dopaminergic lesions cause long-lasting deficits in exploitation of shelter, social and nutritional resources, and an imbalanced exploratory behavior, where nondirected local exploration is exacerbated, whereas sophisticated search behaviors involving sequences of goal directed actions are degraded. Importantly, some behavioral deficits do not diminish after adolescence but instead worsen or mutate,

SUBMITTER: Braz BY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4569947 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature