The Bed Nucleus of the Stria Terminalis, Homeostatic Satiety, and Compulsions: What Can We Learn From Polydipsia?

Abstract

A compulsive phenotype characterizes several neuropsychiatric illnesses – including but not limited to – schizophrenia and obsessive compulsive disorder. Because of its perceived etiological heterogeneity, it is challenging to disentangle the specific neurophysiology that precipitates compulsive behaving. Using polydipsia (or non-regulatory water drinking), we describe candidate neural substrates of compulsivity. We further postulate that aberrant neuroplasticity within cortically projecting structures [i.e., the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST)] and circuits that encode homeostatic emotions (thirst, hunger, satiety, etc.) underlie compulsive drinking. By transducing an inaccurate signal that fails to represent true homeostatic state, cortical structures cannot select appropriate and adaptive actions. Additionally, augmented dopamine (DA) reactivity in striatal projections to and from the frontal cortex contribute to aberrant homeostatic signal propagation that ultimately biases cortex-dependent behavioral selection. Responding becomes rigid and corresponds with both erroneous, inflexible encoding in both bottom-up structures and in top-down pathways. How aberrant neuroplasticity in circuits that encode homeostatic emotion result in the genesis and maintenance of compulsive behaviors needs further investigation.

Momentary Induction of Inhibitory Control and Its Effects on Uncertainty

“…Multiple imaging techniques probed uncertainty in response to threat or when facing uncertain economic choices ( Bach & Dolan, 2012 ; Grupe & Nitschke, 2013 ), providing invaluable knowledge on the role of the reward system and the Bed Nucleus of the Stria Terminalis (BNST) but uncertainty’s core features are debated. Studying mild uncertainty while optimizing our scanning sequences to detect BNST activation and connectivity may improve our understanding of uncertainty, its resolution and its utility in neuro-psychiatric disorders such as OCD ( Banasikowski & Hawken, 2019 ).…”

Repeated Δ-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol administration dose dependently increases stablished schedule-induced drinking

“…As well as SID, other behaviours have been included in the large category of adjunctive behaviours (Falk 1971;Roper 1981). SID has been documented in mice, rats, pigeons, monkeys, and humans, which demonstrates generality across species (Banasikowski and Hawken 2019;Pellón et al 2020).…”

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Compulsive behaviour can be shown in animal models of: (i) persistence to deal with adverse consequences; (ii) behavioural inflexibility; or, (iii) inability to stop behaviour (Maio et al 2014). Compulsive symptoms are commonly treated pharmacologically with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) and antipsychotics (Fineberg et al 2010), and the fact that these drugs can reduce the compulsive behaviour mimicked by these models indicates predictive validity (Moreno and Flores 2012).Schedule-induced drinking (SID) reproduces an excessive and repetitive behavioural pattern that has been recognized as the most robust and replicable animal model of compulsivity (Banasikowski and Hawken 2019;Moreno and Flores 2012). Excessive water intake occurs when

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“…Schedule-induced drinking (SID) reproduces an excessive and repetitive behavioural pattern that has been recognized as the most robust and replicable animal model of compulsivity (Banasikowski and Hawken 2019;Moreno and Flores 2012). Excessive water intake occurs when…”