title: Developmental emergence of an obsessive-compulsive phenotype and binge behavior in rats.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  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.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  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.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Developmental Neuropharmacology, McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 115 Mill St, Belmont, MA, 02478, USA.
authors.forename: Nadja
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Freund
authors.forename: Britta S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: Kevin J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Norman
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Einhorn
authors.forename: Susan L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Andersen
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology; D000818:Animals; D000929:Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic / Q000494:pharmacology; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects; D056912:Binge-Eating Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D002997:Clomipramine / Q000494:pharmacology; D003259:Consummatory Behavior / Q000187:drug effects; D004041:Dietary Fats; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013395:Sucrose
chemical_list: D000929:Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic; D004041:Dietary Fats; D013395:Sucrose; D002997:Clomipramine