Archives
Active SI behavior was dose
Active SI behavior was dose-dependently affected by PACAP treatment (F3,25 = 14.42, p < .01) (Figure 2A). Specifically, PACAP administration decreased active SI in rats treated with .5–1.0 μg (all p < .01) (Figure 2A) but had no effect on social avoidance (e.g., fleeing from the partner rat) (Figure 2B). Also, PACAP affected the amount of time spent in the arena corners (F3,25 = 13.06, p < .01) (Figure 2C); rats treated with 1.0 μg PACAP (p < .01) spent significantly more time in arena corners than rats treated with VEH. Horizontal locomotor activity was significantly decreased (F3,25 = 8.27, p < .01) only in rats treated with 1.0 μg PACAP (p < .01; data not shown); this likely reflects anxiety-like behavior because 1.0 μg PACAP did not affect maximum ICSS rates. Importantly, the PACAP dose administered to the treatment rat did not affect SI behaviors of the partner rat (Figure 2D). Treatment with PACAP affected adenosine receptor 1 week later (F3,20 = 8.93, p < .01) (Figure 2E). Rats treated with 1.0 μg PACAP spent significantly more time engaging in active SI behaviors compared with rats treated with VEH (p < .05). Treatment with PACAP also affected the amount of time spent in the arena corners in the 1-week test (Figure 2F). Although there was a main effect of treatment (F3,20 = 4.29, p < .05), driven largely by increased anxiety-like behavior in rats previously treated with .25 μg, there were no significant differences among the doses in post hoc tests. Furthermore, there were no significant treatment differences in rats tested only at the 1-week time point, although the data were more variable with nominal decreases in active SI at the low doses (not shown). Acute disruptions in performance in the 5CSRTT were dose-dependently produced by PACAP. Effects of PACAP depended on significant dose × day interactions for correct responding (F12,76 = 3.42, p < .01), omission errors (F12,76 = 4.65, p < .01), accuracy (F12,76 = 2.83, p < .01), and head entries into the food magazine (F12,76 = 3.08, p < .01) (Figure 3A–D). Within-group comparisons with the VEH treatment day indicate that PACAP treatment reduced % correct responses at .5–1.0 µg (all p < .01) (Figure 3A), increased % omissions at .5–1.0 µg (all p < .01) (Figure 3B), reduced accuracy at .5 µg (p < .05) and 1.0 µg (p < .01) (Figure 3C), and reduced the number of head entries at .5–1.0 µg (all p < .01) (Figure 3D). Between-group comparisons with rats that received VEH indicate that PACAP reduced % correct responses at .5–1.0 µg (all p < .01) (Figure 3A), increased % omissions at .5–1.0 µg (all p < .01) (Figure 3B), reduced accuracy at .5 µg (p < .05) and 1.0 µg (p < .01) (Figure 3C), and reduced the number of head entries at .5 µg (p < .05) and 1.0 µg (p < .01) (Figure 3D). In other metrics examined (Table 1), there was a main effect of dose in latency to a correct response (F3,19 = 4.49, p < .05) and main effects of day in the time to complete the task (F4,76 = 3.53, p < .05) and in reward latency (F4,76 = 2.68, p < .05). The overall main effect of day in the reward latency analysis was largely driven by decreases in reward latency in rats treated with 1.0 µg PACAP. Premature responses were not significantly altered by PACAP. The effects of PACAP were not persistent on any 5CSRTT metric studied (Figure 3A–D). Humans normally adjust their response rates in decision-making tasks after an incorrect response, but this behavior is altered in depression (38). To determine if PACAP causes dysregulation of decision making, we analyzed posterror and postcorrect responses (as reflected by % correct) (Figure 4). A preplanned Bonferroni analysis revealed that .25 µg PACAP produced decreases in % correct responses following an error (posterror; p < .05; main effect of condition [F1,16 = 5.55, p < .05]) without affecting % correct responses following a correct response (postcorrect) (Figure 4A). A higher (.5 µg) dose produced disruptions in posterror and postcorrect responses (all p < .05; main effect of condition [F1,10 = 16.14, p < .01]) (Figure 4B). These results are consistent with our hypothesis that PACAP causes disruptions in posterror adjustments that are similar to disruptions seen in humans with depression.