Increased Compulsivity in Adulthood after Early Adolescence Immune Activation: Preclinical Evidence

Santiago Mora, Elena Martín-González, Ángeles Prados-Pardo, Pilar Flores and Margarita Moreno
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Santiago Mora: Department of Psychology and Health Research Centre, University of Almería, Carretera de Sacramento s/n, 04120 Almería, Spain
Elena Martín-González: Department of Psychology and Health Research Centre, University of Almería, Carretera de Sacramento s/n, 04120 Almería, Spain
Ángeles Prados-Pardo: Department of Psychology and Health Research Centre, University of Almería, Carretera de Sacramento s/n, 04120 Almería, Spain
Pilar Flores: Department of Psychology and Health Research Centre, University of Almería, Carretera de Sacramento s/n, 04120 Almería, Spain
Margarita Moreno: Department of Psychology and Health Research Centre, University of Almería, Carretera de Sacramento s/n, 04120 Almería, Spain

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 9, 1-19

Abstract: Immune activation during early developmental stages has been proposed as a contributing factor in the pathogenesis of neuropsychiatric conditions such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and autism in both human and animal studies. However, its relationship with the vulnerability to inhibitory control deficit, which is a shared feature among those conditions, remains unclear. The present work studied whether postnatal immune activation during early adolescence, combined with exposure to early-life adverse events, could lead to adult vulnerability to impulsive and/or compulsive behaviors. Male Wistar rats were exposed to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in early adolescence at postnatal day 26 (PND26). During peripuberal period, half of the animals were exposed to a mild stress protocol. In adulthood, behavioral assessment was performed with the aid of the sustained attentional 5-choice serial reaction time (5-CSRT) task, schedule-induced polydipsia (SIP), and open-field locomotor activity and novelty reactivity. Rats exposed to LPS showed more compulsive responses than their control counterparts on 5-CSRT task, although no differences were observed in SIP or locomotor responses. Our study contributes to the knowledge of the relationship between immune activation and inhibitory control deficit. Future studies should aim to disentangle how, and to what extent, immune activation impacts behavior, and to understand the role of early life mild stress.

Keywords: inhibitory control; compulsivity; immune activation; behavior; preclinical models; early life adversity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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