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Hyperactivity to novelty induced by social isolation is not correlated with changes in D2 receptor function and binding in striatum

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Abstract

Rationale

Prolonged social isolation has been reported to induce different behavioral disturbances, among the most consistent of which are the increased locomotor response to novelty and the effects of psychostimulants. While these behavioral changes have been partly related to a dysregulation of dopaminergic activity in striatum (dorsal and ventral), the involvement of changes in the function of dopamine receptors is still a matter of controversy.

Objectives

To investigate the effects of prolonged social isolation on the function of D2 receptors at both the behavioral and biochemical levels.

Methods

Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly placed at 21 days of age in groups or isolation for 2 months. Horizontal and vertical locomotor activities induced by novelty and also by systemic injections of the D2 agonist quinpirole (0.15, 0.50 and 1.5 mg/kg i.p.) and their modulation by the A2A agonist CGS 21680 (0.1 mg/kg i.p.) were studied. The effects of social isolation on the avoidance learning assessed by the passive avoidance test were also studied. Binding experiments were performed to study the number and affinity of D2 receptors by means of saturation and competition experiments with the D2 antagonist [3H]-raclopride and the interaction between D2 receptors and the G-protein by means of [35S]-GTPγs binding in dorsal/ventral striatal membranes of both grouped and isolated rats.

Results

Rats reared in isolation were hyperactive to a novel environment and showed shorter retention latencies in the passive avoidance test. Isolation rearing did not modify the increase in motor activity produced by quinpirole nor the counteraction of these effects by the simultaneous stimulation of A2A receptors. Likewise, the number, affinity and functional efficacy of D2 receptors were not changed by social isolation.

Conclusions

These results suggest that the hyperactivity to novelty and psychostimulants as well as other behavioral changes induced by social isolation do not parallel changes in the in vivo function or binding of D2 receptors in dorsal/ventral striatum.

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Acknowledgements

The research reported in this paper was supported by a Spanish fellowship from the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia and by the Swedish Research Council.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, 171 77 , Stockholm, Sweden

    Alberto Del Arco, Anton Terasmaa & Kjell Fuxe

  2. Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad Complutense, Ciudad Universitaria, s/n, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    Alberto Del Arco

  3. Division of Geriatric Medicine, NEUROTEC, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge University Hospital, Sweden

    Shunwei Zhu & Abdul H. Mohammed

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  1. Alberto Del Arco
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  2. Shunwei Zhu
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  3. Anton Terasmaa
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Correspondence to Alberto Del Arco.

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Del Arco, A., Zhu, S., Terasmaa, A. et al. Hyperactivity to novelty induced by social isolation is not correlated with changes in D2 receptor function and binding in striatum. Psychopharmacology 171, 148–155 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-003-1578-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-003-1578-8

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