title: The role of anxiety in vulnerability for self-injurious behaviour: studies in a rodent model.
abstract: Self-injurious behaviour (SIB) is a debilitating characteristic that is highly prevalent in autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders. Pathological anxiety is also common, and there are reports of comorbid anxiety and self-injury in some children. We have investigated potential interactions between anxiety and self-injury, using a rat model of pemoline-induced self-biting. In one experiment, rats were pre-screened for trait anxiety by measuring expression of anxiety-related behaviour on the elevated plus maze and open field emergence test. The rats were then treated with pemoline once daily for ten days, and vulnerability for pemoline-induced self-injury was evaluated. This revealed modest correlations between innate levels of anxiety-related behaviour in the open field test (time in the start box, and latency to enter the open field), and vulnerability for pemoline-induced self-biting (total duration of self-injurious oral contact, and total size of tissue injury). Measures in the elevated plus maze were not significantly correlated with vulnerability for pemoline-induced self-injury. In a second experiment, rats were treated with the beta-carboline FG 7142 twice daily, during 5days of treatment with pemoline. The rats that were treated with this anxiogenic drug exhibited greater duration of self-injurious oral contact, and larger injuries than vehicle-treated controls did. Overall, these results suggest that anxiety may contribute to the etiology and/or expression of self-injurious behaviour, and indicate that further research is warranted.
authors.affiliation: University of Florida, Department of Psychology, Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience Program, Gainesville, FL 32611-2250, USA.
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.affiliation: University of Florida, Department of Psychology, Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience Program, Gainesville, FL 32611-2250, USA. Electronic address: dpdevine@ufl.edu.
authors.forename: D P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Devine
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety; D002243:Carbolines / Q000494:pharmacology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000187:drug effects; D007206:Individuality; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects; D010389:Pemoline; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000494:pharmacology; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D055500:Resilience, Psychological; D016728:Self-Injurious Behavior / Q000523:psychology*
chemical_list: D002243:Carbolines; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs; C035874:FG 7142; D010389:Pemoline
keywords: Anxiety; Autism; FG 7142; Individual differences; Pemoline; Self-injury