Measuring mania‐like elevated mood through amphetamine‐induced 50‐kHz ultrasonic vocalizations in rats

Wöhr, Markus

doi:10.1111/bph.15487

Cited by 25 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 156 publications

(346 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…We show here that inhibition of NAc using an established chemogenetic inhibition approach [46,[56][57][58] markedly suppresses amphetamine-induced USVs. Prior reports have shown that administration of amphetamine to the NAc shell increases local dopamine signaling and 50 kHz call rate [2,39,59,60], with similar increases in calling resulting from systemic or intracerebral injection of other dopamine agonists such as quinpirole [5,54,[61][62][63]. Playback of 50 kHz vocalizations has also been shown to increase dopamine levels in the NAc and elicit approach behavior [41].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Nucleus Accumbens Chemogenetic Inhibition Suppresses Amphetamine-Induced Ultrasonic Vocalizations in Male and Female Rats

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Adult rats emit ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) related to their affective states, potentially providing information about their subjective experiences during behavioral neuroscience experiments. If so, USVs might provide an important link between invasive animal preclinical studies and human studies in which subjective states can be readily queried. Here, we induced USVs in male and female Long Evans rats using acute amphetamine (2 mg/kg), and asked how reversibly inhibiting nucleus accumbens neurons using designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs (DREADDs) impacts USV production. We analyzed USV characteristics using “Deepsqueak” software, and manually categorized detected calls into four previously defined subtypes. We found that systemic administration of the DREADD agonist clozapine-n-oxide, relative to vehicle in the same rats, suppressed the number of frequency-modulated and trill-containing USVs without impacting high frequency, unmodulated (flat) USVs, nor the small number of low-frequency USVs observed. Using chemogenetics, these results thus confirm that nucleus accumbens neurons are essential for production of amphetamine-induced frequency-modulated USVs. They also support the premise of further investigating the characteristics and subcategories of these calls as a window into the subjective effects of neural manipulations, with potential future clinical applications.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Nucleus Accumbens Chemogenetic Inhibition Suppresses Amphetamine-Induced Ultrasonic Vocalizations in Male and Female Rats

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Emission of 50 kHz USVs induced by heterospecific play is associated with dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens/ventral striatum ( Hori et al, 2013 ), as is reception of 50 kHz USV ( Willuhn et al, 2014 ). These calls have been considered as signals of “joy,” “euphoria,” and “laughter,” supported by behavioral pharmacology showing increased 50 kHz USVs resulting from amphetamine administration ( Brudzynski, 2013 , 2015 ; Wöhr, 2021 ) and electrical stimulation of reward-associated areas ( Burgdorf et al, 2007 ). Both vocalizations and gait require fine motor control; thus, striatal and motivational components support aberrant frontal-striatal circuitry.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Excessive Laughter-like Vocalizations, Microcephaly, and Translational Outcomes in theUbe3aDeletion Rat Model of Angelman Syndrome

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Angelman Syndrome (AS) is a rare genetic neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by intellectual disabilities, motor and balance deficits, impaired communication, and a happy, excitable demeanor with frequent laughter. We sought to elucidate a preclinical outcome measure in male and female rats that addressed communication abnormalities of AS and other neurodevelopmental disorders in which communication is atypical and/or lack of speech is a core feature. We discovered, and herein report for the first time, excessive laughter-like 50-kHz ultrasonic emissions in the Ube3a mat-/pat+ rat model of AS, which suggests an excitable, playful demeanor and elevated positive affect, similar to the demeanor of individuals with AS. Also in line with the AS phenotype, Ube3a mat-/pat+ rats demonstrated aberrant social interactions with a novel partner, distinctive gait abnormalities, impaired cognition, an underlying long-term potentiation deficit, and profound reductions in brain volume. These unique, robust phenotypes provide advantages compared to currently available mouse models and will be highly valuable as outcome measures in the evaluation of therapies for AS. Significance StatementAngelman Syndrome (AS) is a severe neurogenetic disorder for which there is no cure, despite decades of research using mouse models. This study utilized a recently developed rat model of AS to delineate disease-relevant outcome measures in order to facilitate therapeutic development. We found the rat to be a strong model of AS, offering several advantages over mouse models by exhibiting numerous AS-relevant phenotypes including overabundant laughter-like vocalizations, reduced hippocampal longterm potentiation, and volumetric anomalies across the brain. These findings are unconfounded by detrimental motor abilities and background strain, issues plaguing mouse models. This rat model represents an important advancement in the field of AS and the outcome metrics reported herein will be central to the therapeutic pipeline.

show abstract

“…Individual vocalization and own vs. foreign recognition can be disturbed in schizophrenic-like symptoms in the rat model ( Matsumoto et al, 2016 ). Furthermore, changes in the vocalization profile occur in the rat model of affective disorders and psychotic states ( Nikiforuk et al, 2013 ; Wendler et al, 2019 ; Wöhr, 2021 ) as well as in suggested models of autism ( Caruso et al, 2020 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anticipatory 50-kHz Precontact Ultrasonic Vocalizations and Sexual Motivation: Characteristic Pattern of Ultrasound Subtypes in an Individual Analyzed Profile

Bogacki-Rychlik

Rolf

Bialy

2021

Front. Behav. Neurosci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We verified the hypothesis of the existence of forms of individual-specific differences in the emission of anticipatory precontact vocalization (PVs) indicating individualization related to sexual experience and motivation in male rats. Long-Evans males were individually placed in a chamber and 50-kHz ultrasounds were recorded during 5-min periods. In experiment 1, PVs were recorded before the introduction of a female in four consecutive sessions during the acquisition of sexual experience. In experiment 2, PVs were analyzed in three groups of sexually experienced males: with the highest, moderate, and the lowest sexual motivation based on previous copulatory activity. In both experiments, the total number of ultrasounds, as well as 14 different specific subtypes, was measured. The ultrasound profiles for each male were created by analyzing the proportions of specific dominant subtypes of so-called 50-kHz calls. We decided that the dominant ultrasounds were those that represented more than 10% of the total recorded signals in a particular session. The number of PVs was positively correlated with the acquisition of sexual experience and previous copulatory efficiency (measured as the number of sessions with ejaculation). Furthermore, PVs showed domination of the frequency modulated signals (complex and composite) as well as flat and short with upward ramp ultrasounds with some individual differences, regardless of the level of sexual motivation. The results show a characteristic pattern of PVs and confirm the hypothesis that the number of PVs is a parameter reflecting the level of sexual motivation.

show abstract

Measuring mania‐like elevated mood through amphetamine‐induced 50‐kHz ultrasonic vocalizations in rats

Cited by 25 publications

References 156 publications

Nucleus Accumbens Chemogenetic Inhibition Suppresses Amphetamine-Induced Ultrasonic Vocalizations in Male and Female Rats

Nucleus Accumbens Chemogenetic Inhibition Suppresses Amphetamine-Induced Ultrasonic Vocalizations in Male and Female Rats

Excessive Laughter-like Vocalizations, Microcephaly, and Translational Outcomes in theUbe3aDeletion Rat Model of Angelman Syndrome

Anticipatory 50-kHz Precontact Ultrasonic Vocalizations and Sexual Motivation: Characteristic Pattern of Ultrasound Subtypes in an Individual Analyzed Profile

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About