title: Obsessive-compulsive disorder: Insights from animal models.
abstract: Research with animal models of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) shows the following: (1) Optogenetic studies in mice provide evidence for a plausible cause-effect relation between increased activity in cortico-basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical (CBGTC) circuits and OCD by demonstrating the induction of compulsive behavior with the experimental manipulation of the CBGTC circuit. (2) Parallel use of several animal models is a fruitful paradigm to examine the mechanisms of treatment effects of deep brain stimulation in distinct OCD endophenotypes. (3) Features of spontaneous behavior in deer mice constitute a rich platform to investigate the neurobiology of OCD, social ramifications of a compulsive phenotype, and test novel drugs. (4) Studies in animal models for psychiatric disorders comorbid with OCD suggest comorbidity may involve shared neural circuits controlling expression of compulsive behavior. (5) Analysis of compulsive behavior into its constitutive components provides evidence from an animal model for a motivational perspective on OCD. (6) Methods of behavioral analysis in an animal model translate to dissection of compulsive rituals in OCD patients, leading to diagnostic tests.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada. Electronic address: szechtma@mcmaster.ca.
authors.forename: Henry
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Szechtman
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. Electronic address: ahmarise@upmc.edu.
authors.forename: Susanne E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Ahmari
authors.affiliation: Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada. Electronic address: beninger@queensu.ca.
authors.forename: Richard J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Beninger
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, Tel-Aviv University, Ramat-Aviv 69978, Israel. Electronic address: eilam@post.tau.ac.il.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Eilam
authors.affiliation: MRC Unit on Anxiety and Stress Disorders, Center of Excellence for Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa. Electronic address: Brian.Harvey@nwu.ac.za.
authors.forename: Brian H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Harvey
authors.affiliation: Bereich Experimentelle Psychiatrie, Klinik und Poliklinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie, Universitätsklinikum Carl Gustav Carus an der Technischen Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany. Electronic address: henriette-edemann.callesen@charite.de.
authors.forename: Henriette
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Edemann-Callesen
authors.affiliation: Bereich Experimentelle Psychiatrie, Klinik und Poliklinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie, Universitätsklinikum Carl Gustav Carus an der Technischen Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany. Electronic address: Christine.Winter@uniklinikum-dresden.de.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Winter
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001479:Basal Ganglia; D003192:Compulsive Behavior; D046690:Deep Brain Stimulation; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006801:Humans; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
keywords: Animal model; Basal ganglia; Deer mouse; Endophenotypes; Nucleus accumbens core; Obsessive-compulsive disorder; Orbitofrontal cortex; Quinpirole; Security motivation system; Striatum