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A modified adjusting delay task to assess impulsive choice between isocaloric reinforcers in non-deprived male rats: effects of 5-HT2A/C and 5-HT1A receptor agonists

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Abstract

Rationale

Existing animal models of impulsivity frequently use food restriction to increase subjects’ motivation. In addition, behavioral tasks that assess impulsive choice typically involve the use of reinforcers with dissimilar caloric content. These factors represent energy-homeostasis limitations, which may confound the interpretation of results and limit the applicability of these models.

Objectives

This study was aimed at validating face and convergent validities of a modified adjusting delay task, which assesses impulsive choice between isocaloric reinforcers in ad libitum fed rats.

Methods

Male Wistar rats (n = 18) were used to assess the preferredness and reinforcing efficacy of a “supersaccharin” solution (1.5% glucose/0.4% saccharin) over a 1.5% glucose solution. A separate group of rats (n = 24) was trained in a modified adjusting delay task, which involved repeated choice between the glucose solution delivered immediately and the supersaccharin solution delivered after a variable delay. To pharmacologically validate the task, the effects of the 5-HT2A/C receptor agonist (±)-1-(2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodophenyl)-2-aminopropane [(±)-DOI] and the 5-HT1A receptor agonist (±)-8-hydroxy-2-(dipropylamino)tetralin hydrobromide [(±)-8-OH-DPAT] on impulsive choice were then evaluated.

Results

Supersaccharin was highly reinforcing and uniformly preferred over the glucose solution by all subjects. Rats quickly learned the task, and impulsivity was a very stable and consistent trait. DOI and 8-OH-DPAT significantly and dose dependently increased impulsive choice in this modified adjusting delay task.

Conclusions

We validated a rodent task of impulsive choice, which eliminates typical energy-homeostasis limitations and, therefore, opens new avenues in the study of impulsivity in preclinical feeding and obesity research.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Frank Gibbs for technical assistance and Jina Kwak for the technical and editorial assistance. This publication was made possible by grant numbers DA023680, DA030425, MH091945, and AA016731 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), and by the Peter Paul Career Development Professorship. The authors declare no conflict of interest. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

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  1. Laboratory of Addictive Disorders, Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Boston University School of Medicine, 72 E Concord St, R-618, Boston, MA, 02118, USA

    Angelo Blasio, Aditi R. Narayan, Valentina Sabino & Pietro Cottone

  2. Department of Human Physiology and Pharmacology, Sapienza, University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Angelo Blasio & Luca Steardo

  3. Division of Behavioral Biology, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Barbara J. Kaminski

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  1. Angelo Blasio
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  2. Aditi R. Narayan
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  3. Barbara J. Kaminski
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  5. Valentina Sabino
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  6. Pietro Cottone
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Correspondence to Angelo Blasio or Pietro Cottone.

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Blasio, A., Narayan, A.R., Kaminski, B.J. et al. A modified adjusting delay task to assess impulsive choice between isocaloric reinforcers in non-deprived male rats: effects of 5-HT2A/C and 5-HT1A receptor agonists. Psychopharmacology 219, 377–386 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-011-2517-8

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