title: Social behavior in deer mice as a novel interactive paradigm of relevance for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
abstract: Greater obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptom severity may be associated with poor social adjustment. Rather than possessing deficits in social skill per se, OCD patients may be more socially isolative in the presence of normal controls. We aimed to apply a novel social interaction challenge (SIC) to an established animal model of OCD, viz., the deer mouse, to assess complex social behavior in animals by investigating group sociability and its response to chronic escitalopram treatment (50 mg/kg/day × 28 days), both within and between non (N)- (viz., normal) and high (H)- (viz., OCD-like) stereotypical cohorts. Using automated screening, we scored approach behavior, episodes of proximity, duration of proximity, and relative net weighted movement. H animals socialized more with one another within cohort in all of the above parameters compared to the within-cohort behavior of N animals. Furthermore, the social behavior of H animals toward one another, both within and between cohort demonstrated significant improvements following chronic escitalopram treatment. However, the study also demonstrates that the social interaction between H and N animals remain poor even after chronic escitalopram treatment. To conclude, findings from the current investigation support clinical data demonstrating altered sociability in patients with OCD.
authors.affiliation: a Division of Pharmacology , North-West University (Potchefstroom Campus) , Potchefstroom , South Africa.
authors.forename: De Wet
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wolmarans
authors.affiliation: b Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, MRC Unit on Anxiety & Stress Disorders , University of Cape Town, Observatory , Cape Town , South Africa.
authors.forename: Dan J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Stein
authors.affiliation: c Center of Excellence for Pharmaceutical Sciences, MRC Unit on Anxiety and Stress and Disorders , North-West University (Potchefstroom Campus) , Potchefstroom , South Africa.
authors.forename: Brian H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Harvey
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015283:Citalopram / Q000494:pharmacology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy; D010542:Peromyscus / Q000523:psychology*; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000494:pharmacology; D011897:Random Allocation; D012919:Social Behavior; D013239:Stereotyped Behavior / Q000187:drug effects; D014741:Video Recording
chemical_list: D011619:Psychotropic Drugs; D015283:Citalopram
keywords: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD); animal model; deer mouse; escitalopram; social interaction