Many common psychiatric conditions, such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), Parkinson's disease, addiction and pathological gambling are linked ...by a failure in the mechanisms that control, or inhibit, inappropriate behavior. Models of rat behavioral inhibition permit us to study in detail the anatomical and pharmacological bases of inhibitory failure, using methods that translate directly with patient assessment in the clinic. This review updates current ideas relating to behavioral inhibition based on two significant lines of evidence from rat studies:
(1) To integrate new findings from the stop-signal task into existing models of behavioral inhibition, in particular relating to ‘impulsive action’ control. The stop-signal task has been used for a number of years to evaluate psychiatric conditions and has recently been translated for use in the rat, bringing a wealth of new information to behavioral inhibition research.
(2) To consider the importance of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) in the neural circuitry of behavioral inhibition. This function of this nucleus is central to a number of ‘disinhibitory’ disorders such as Parkinson's disease and OCD, and their therapies, but its role in behavioral inhibition is still undervalued, and often not considered in preclinical models of behavioral control.
Integration of these findings has pinpointed the orbitofrontal cortex (OF), dorsomedial striatum (DMStr) and STN within a network that normally inhibits many forms of behavior, including both impulsive and compulsive forms. However, there are distinct differences between behavioral subtypes in their neurochemical modulation.
This review brings new light to the classical view of the mechanisms that inhibit behavior, in particular suggesting a far more prominent role for the STN, a structure that is usually omitted from conventional behavioral-inhibition networks. The OF–DMStr–STN circuitry may form the basis of a control network that defines behavioral inhibition and that acts to suppress or countermand many forms of inappropriate or maladaptive behavior.
Response inhibition is essential for navigating everyday life. Its derailment is considered integral to numerous neurological and psychiatric disorders, and more generally, to a wide range of ...behavioral and health problems. Response-inhibition efficiency furthermore correlates with treatment outcome in some of these conditions. The stop-signal task is an essential tool to determine how quickly response inhibition is implemented. Despite its apparent simplicity, there are many features (ranging from task design to data analysis) that vary across studies in ways that can easily compromise the validity of the obtained results. Our goal is to facilitate a more accurate use of the stop-signal task. To this end, we provide 12 easy-to-implement consensus recommendations and point out the problems that can arise when they are not followed. Furthermore, we provide user-friendly open-source resources intended to inform statistical-power considerations, facilitate the correct implementation of the task, and assist in proper data analysis.
Impulsivity, broadly defined as action without foresight, is a component of numerous psychiatric illnesses including attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), mania and substance abuse. In ...order to investigate the mechanisms underpinning impulsive behavior, the nature of impulsivity itself needs to be defined in operational terms that can be used as the basis for empirical investigation. Due to the range of behaviors that the term impulsivity describes, it has been suggested that impulsivity is not a unitary construct, but encompasses a variety of related phenomena that may differ in their biological basis. Through fractionating impulsivity into these component parts, it has proved possible to devise different behavioral paradigms to measure various aspects of impulsivity in both humans and laboratory animals. This review describes and evaluates some of the current behavioral models of impulsivity developed for use with rodents based on human neuropsychological tests, focusing on the five-choice serial reaction time task, the stop-signal reaction time task and delay-discounting paradigms. Furthermore, the contributions made by preclinical studies using such methodology to improve our understanding of the neural and neurochemical basis of impulsivity and ADHD are discussed, with particular reference to the involvement of both the serotonergic and dopaminergic systems, and frontostriatal circuitry.
Background and rationale
The term ‘action inhibition’ encapsulates the ability to prevent any form of planned physical response. Growing evidence suggests that different ‘stages’ or even subtypes of ...action inhibition activate subtly different neuropharmacological and neuroanatomical processes.
Objectives
In this review, we present evidence from two commonly used and apparently similar behavioural tests, the stop-signal task and the go/no-go task, to determine if these have similar neuroanatomical and neurochemical modulation.
Results
Whilst performance of the stop-signal and go/no-go tasks is modulated across only subtly different anatomical networks, serotonin (5-HT) is strongly implicated in inhibitory control on the go/no-go but not the stop-signal task, whereas the stop-signal reaction time appears more sensitive to the action of noradrenaline.
Conclusions
There is clear neuropharmacological and neuroanatomical evidence that stop-signal and go/no-go tasks represent different forms of action inhibition. This evidence translates with remarkable consistency across species. We discuss the possible implications of this evidence with respect to the development of novel therapeutic treatments for disorders in which inhibitory deficits are prominent and debilitating.
The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is implicated in a variety of adaptive decision-making processes. Human studies suggest that there is a functional dissociation between medial and lateral OFC (mOFC and ...lOFC, respectively) subregions when performing certain choice procedures. However, little work has examined the functional consequences of manipulations of OFC subregions on decision making in rodents. In the present experiments, impulsive choice was assessed by evaluating intolerance to delayed, but economically optimal, reward options using a delay-discounting paradigm. Following initial delay-discounting training, rats received bilateral neurotoxic or sham lesions targeting whole OFC (wOFC) or restricted to either mOFC or lOFC subregions. A transient flattening of delay-discounting curves was observed in wOFC-lesioned animals relative to shams--differences that disappeared with further training. Stable, dissociable effects were found when lesions were restricted to OFC subregions; mOFC-lesioned rats showed increased, whereas lOFC-lesioned rats showed decreased, preference for the larger-delayed reward relative to sham-controls--a pattern that remained significant during retraining after all delays were removed. When locations of levers leading to small-immediate versus large-delayed rewards were reversed, wOFC- and lOFC-lesioned rats showed retarded, whereas mOFC-lesioned rats showed accelerated, trajectories for reversal of lever preference. These results provide the first direct evidence for dissociable functional roles of the mOFC and lOFC for impulsive choice in rodents. The findings are consistent with recent human functional imaging studies and suggest that functions of mOFC and lOFC subregions may be evolutionarily conserved and contribute differentially to decision-making processes.
Atomoxetine is a noradrenaline-specific reuptake inhibitor used clinically for the treatment of childhood and adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Studies in human volunteers and ...patient groups have shown that atomoxetine improves stop-signal reaction time (SSRT) performance, an effect consistent with a reduction in motor impulsivity. However, ADHD is a heterogeneous disorder and it is of interest to determine whether atomoxetine is similarly effective against other forms of impulsivity, as well as the attentional impairment present in certain subtypes of ADHD. The present study examined the effects of atomoxetine on impulsivity using an analogous SSRT task in rats and two additional tests of impulsivity; delay discounting of reward and the five-choice serial reaction time task (5CSRTT), the latter providing an added assessment of sustained visual attention. Atomoxetine produced a significant dose-dependent speeding of SSRT. In addition, atomoxetine produced a selective, dose-dependent decrease in premature responding on the 5CSRTT. Finally, on the delay-discounting task, atomoxetine significantly decreased impulsivity by increasing preference for the large-value reward across increasing delay. These findings conclusively demonstrate that atomoxetine decreases several distinct forms of impulsivity in rats. The apparent contrast of these effects with stimulant drugs such as amphetamine and methylphenidate, which generally act to increase impulsivity on the 5CSRTT, may provide new insights into the mechanisms of action of stimulant and nonstimulant drugs in ADHD.
The stop-signal reaction-time (SSRT) task measures inhibition of a response that has already been initiated, that is, the ability to stop. Human subjects classified as “impulsive,” for example, those ...with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, are slower to respond to the stop signal. Although functional and structural imaging studies in humans have implicated frontal and basal ganglia circuitry in the mediation of this form of response control, the precise roles of the cortex and basal ganglia in SSRT performance are far from understood. We describe effects of excitotoxic fiber-sparing lesions of the orbitofrontal cortex (OF), infralimbic cortex (IL), and subthalamic nucleus (STN) in rats performing a SSRT task. Lesions to the OF slowed SSRT, whereas lesions to the IL or the STN had no effect. On the go-signal trials, neither cortical lesion affected go-trial reaction time (GoRT), but STN lesions speeded such latencies. The STN lesion also significantly reduced accuracy of stopping at all stop-signal delays, indicative of a generalized stopping impairment that was independent of the SSRT itself.
Rationale
The stop-signal paradigm measures the ability to stop a motor response after its execution has been initiated. Impairments in inhibiting inappropriate behavior and prolonged stop-signal ...reaction times (SSRTs) are characteristic of several psychiatric disorders, most notably attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. While there is relative consensus regarding the anatomical substrates of behavioral inhibition, the neurochemical imbalance responsible for the deficits in stopping displayed by impulsive individuals is still a matter of debate.
Objective
The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of manipulating brain monoamine levels on stop task parameters.
Methods
Lister-hooded rats were trained on the rodent version of the stop-signal task and administered different monoamine transporter inhibitors: citalopram, which selectively blocks the serotonin transporter; atomoxetine, which selectively blocks the noradrenaline transporter; and GBR-12909, which selectively blocks the dopamine transporter (DAT), and the alpha-2 adrenergic agonist guanfacine.
Results
Atomoxetine speeded SSRT and increased accuracy for go-trials. Citalopram slowed go reaction time and decreased go accuracy at the highest dose (1 mg/kg). GBR-12909 speeded go reaction time and impaired both go and stop accuracy. Guanfacine negatively modulated all principal stop and go measures at the highest dose used (0.3 mg/kg).
Conclusions
The results suggest that atomoxetine exerts its beneficial effects on SSRT via its action on noradrenaline re-uptake, as the specific DAT blocker GBR-12909 and serotonin reuptake blockade had only minor effects on SSRT. The speeding of the go reaction time by dopamine reuptake blockade is consistent with the hypothesis that the hypothetical stop and go processes are modulated by distinct monoaminergic systems.
Dopamine and dopamine-receptor function are often implicated in behavioral inhibition, and deficiencies within behavioral inhibition processes linked to attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder ...(ADHD), schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and drug addiction. In the stop-signal task, which measures the speed of the process of inhibition stop-signal reaction time (SSRT), psychostimulant-related improvement of SSRT in ADHD is linked with dopamine function. However, the precise nature of dopaminergic control over SSRT remains unclear. This study examined region- and receptor-specific modulation of SSRT in the rat using direct infusions of the dopamine D1 receptor (DRD1) antagonist SCH 23390 or dopamine D2 receptor (DRD2) antagonist sulpiride into the dorsomedial striatum (DMStr) or nucleus accumbens core (NAcbC). DRD1 and DRD2 antagonists had contrasting effects on SSRT that were specific to the DMStr. SCH 23390 decreased SSRT with little effect on the go response. Conversely, sulpiride increased SSRT but also increased go-trial reaction time and reduced trial completion at the highest doses. These results suggest that DRD1 and DRD2 function within the DMStr, but not the NAcbC, may act to balance behavioral inhibition in a manner that is independent of behavioral activation.
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