Abstract
Rationale
Seasonal birth patterns consistently implicate winter gestation as a risk factor for several psychiatric conditions. We recently demonstrated that short-active (SA; 19:5 light:dark)—i.e., “winter-like”—photoperiod exposure across gestation and early life (E0–P28) induces psychiatrically relevant behavioral abnormalities in adult mice, including reduced immobility in the forced swim test (FST) and effortful amotivation. It is unknown, however, whether these effects were driven primarily by prenatal or postnatal mechanisms, and whether perinatal SA photoperiod would similarly reduce effort expenditure in a task relevant to everyday decision-making.
Objectives and methods
We first tested male and female mice exposed to either gestational (E0–P0) or postnatal (E0–P28) SA photoperiod in the FST to determine whether the previously observed alteration was driven primarily by prenatal versus postnatal photoperiod. We then assessed whether SA gestational photoperiod reduces effortful choice behavior in the cross-species effort-based decision-making task (EBDMT) and whether any such deficit could be remediated by d-amphetamine (0.1 and 0.3 mg/kg, i.p.).
Results
Mice exposed to prenatal, but not postnatal, SA photoperiod exhibited reduced FST immobility relative to controls and also demonstrated condition-dependently reduced preference for high-effort/high-reward versus low-effort/low-reward contingencies in the EBDMT. This effortful choice deficit was normalized by 0.1 mg/kg amphetamine.
Conclusions
These data: (1) suggest a greater contribution of gestational versus postnatal light conditions to the behavioral effects of perinatal SA photoperiod; and (2) implicate altered dopamine signaling in the behavioral phenotype of the SA-born mouse and possibly in the etiology of winter gestation-associated cases of psychiatric disease.
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Acknowledgements
We appreciate the support of Drs. Mark A. Geyer and Stan Floresco, Mr. Richard F. Sharp, and Ms. Mahalah R. Buell. Additionally, we appreciate funding support from the UCSD Academic Senate, MIRECC VISN22, and R01DA043535 for supporting this research.
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Benjamin Z. Roberts and Molly A. O’Connor are co-first authors.
This article belongs to a Special Issue on Innovating translational models of affective disorders.
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Roberts, B.Z., O’Connor, M.A., Kenton, J.A. et al. Short-active gestational photoperiod reduces effortful choice behavior in mice, partial normalization by d-amphetamine. Psychopharmacology 240, 2303–2315 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-023-06337-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-023-06337-3