The effects of reduced dopamine transporter function and chronic lithium on motivation, probabilistic learning, and neurochemistry in mice: Modeling bipolar mania.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Bipolar disorder (BD) mania patients exhibit poor cognition and reward-seeking/hypermotivation, negatively impacting a patient's quality of life. Current treatments (e.g., lithium), do not treat such deficits. Treatment development has been limited due to a poor understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying these behaviors. Here, we investigated putative mechanisms underlying cognition and reward-seeking/motivational changes relevant to BD mania patients using two validated mouse models and neurochemical analyses.

Methods

The effects of reducing dopamine transporter (DAT) functioning via genetic (knockdown vs. wild-type littermates), or pharmacological (GBR12909- vs. vehicle-treated C57BL/6J mice) means were assessed in the probabilistic reversal learning task

SUBMITTER: Milienne-Petiot M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5148687 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature