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Cell Biology JoVE (Open Access) Citable · DOI

Signal Attenuation as a Rat Model of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

DOI: 10.3791/52287-v
What you'll learn
  • ✓ Establish lever-press conditioning and food-reward associations in rats
  • ✓ Induce compulsive-like behavior via signal attenuation protocols
  • ✓ Measure and analyze behavioral changes following experimental manipulation
  • ✓ Apply extinction and drug intervention assessment techniques
Protocol

The goal of the protocol described in this paper is to induce compulsive-like behavior in rats for the study of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). This behavior is precipitated by attenuating a signal indicating that a lever-press response was effective in producing food.

Difficulty
advanced
Total time
~4–6 weeks per rat (including acclimation, training phases, and testing)
Model organism
Rat (species not specified; presumed Sprague Dawley or Lewis)
Biosafety
BSL-1

Steps

1
Handle and food-restrict rats

Acclimate rats to handling by experimenters and establish controlled food restriction to motivate lever-press behavior during subsequent training phases.

▶ 01:50
2
Train rats to magazine approach

Condition rats to approach and retrieve food pellets from the magazine/hopper, establishing the basic food-reward association necessary for operant conditioning.

▶ 02:33
3
Pre-train lever-press responses

Introduce the lever and reinforce initial lever-press contact to establish basic operant behavior prior to scheduled training.

▶ 03:56
4
Train lever pressing on discrete trial schedule

Shape and establish stable lever-press responding under a discrete trial operant conditioning schedule with consistent reward delivery.

▶ 05:19
5
Attenuate signal and conduct extinction

Gradually reduce the signal/feedback indicating successful lever presses and initiate extinction trials to induce compulsive-like behavioral patterns.

▶ 06:23
6
Test compulsive behavior and drug effects

Assess changes in lever-press persistence and compulsive responding, and evaluate effects of pharmacological intervention on induced OCD-like behavior.

▶ 07:03
7
Analyze signal attenuation and drug intervention results

Quantify and compare behavioral alterations following signal attenuation and drug treatment to validate the OCD model.

▶ 07:45
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