title: Social interaction and social withdrawal in rodents as readouts for investigating the negative symptoms of schizophrenia.
abstract: Negative symptoms (e.g., asociality and anhedonia) are a distinct symptomatic domain that has been found to significantly affect the quality of life in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia. Additionally, the primary negative symptom of asociality (i.e., withdrawal from social contact that derives from indifference or lack of desire to have social contact) is a major contributor to poor psychosocial functioning and has been found to play an important role in the course of the disorder. Nonetheless, the pathophysiology underlying these symptoms is unknown and currently available treatment options (e.g., antipsychotics and cognitive-behavioral therapy) fail to reliably produce efficacious benefits. Utilizing rodent paradigms that measure social behaviors (e.g., social withdrawal) to elucidate the neurobiological substrates that underlie social dysfunction and to identify novel therapeutic targets may be highly informative and useful to understand more about the negative symptoms of schizophrenia. Accordingly, the purpose of this review is to provide an overview of the behavioral tasks for assessing social functioning that may be translationally relevant for investigating negative symptoms associated with schizophrenia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21228, USA. Electronic address: cwilson@mprc.umaryland.edu.
authors.forename: Christina A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21228, USA.
authors.forename: James I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Koenig
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development / Q000503:physiopathology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006801:Humans; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012377:Rodentia / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012919:Social Behavior
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents
keywords: Negative symptoms; Rodent model; Schizophrenia; Social interaction; Social withdrawal