Reduced Motivation in Perinatal Fluoxetine-Treated Mice: A Hypodopaminergic Phenotype.

ABSTRACT: Early life is a sensitive period, in which enhanced neural plasticity allows the developing brain to adapt to its environment. This plasticity can also be a risk factor in which maladaptive development can lead to long-lasting behavioral deficits. Here, we test how early-life exposure to the selective-serotonin-reuptake-inhibitor (SSRI), fluoxetine, affects motivation, and dopaminergic signaling in adulthood. We show for the first time that mice exposed to fluoxetine in the early postnatal period exhibit a reduction in effort-related motivation. These mice also show blunted responses to amphetamine and reduced dopaminergic activation in a sucrose reward task. Interestingly, we find that the reduction in motivation can be rescued in the adult by administering bupropion, a dopamine-norepinep

SUBMITTER: Menezes EC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8018732 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature