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The contribution of basal forebrain to limbic-motor integration and the mediation of motivation to action.

The contribution of hippocampal glutamatergic and VTA dopaminergic inputs to the nucleus accumbens and the role of accumbens--ventral and subpallidal GABAergic pathway in integrating the limbic signals into motor responses via pedunculopontine nucleus were examined with electrophysiological and behavioural techniques. Stimulation of hippocampal input to the accumbens activates GABAergic output to the subpallidal area which leads to suppression of spontaneous firing of subpallidal neurons, while activation of dopamine receptors in the accumbens suppresses GABAergic output to subpallidal area and thus increases the firing of picrotoxin-sensitive ventral pallidal neurons. However, both treatments induced hypermotility suggesting the functional heterogeneity of the ventral and subpallidal areas in "limbic-motor integration". Furthermore, both hippocampal output signals and dopaminergic input to the accumbens descend via ventral and subpallidal areas serially to the pedunculopontine nucleus, the region of the mesencephalic locomotor region. In addition, a parallel ascending pathway from the subpallidal area to the mediodorsal nucleus, and subsequently to the medial prefrontal cortex, probably mediates behaviour, e.g. food hoarding, that requires higher cognitive processing.

Animals↗

Dead reckoning in a small mammal: the evaluation of distance.

When hoarding food under infra-red light, golden hamsters Mesocricetus auratus W. return fairly directly from a feeding place to their nest site by evaluating and updating internal signals that they have generated during the previous outward journey to the feeding place. To test more specifically the animals' capacity to evaluate the linear components of the outward journey, the subjects were led from their (cone-shaped) nest to a feeding place along a detour which comprised either 2 (experiment 1) or 5 (experiment 2) segments; adjoining segments were at right angles to each other. In these conditions, the subjects remained significantly oriented towards the nest and therefore were capable of assessing translations as well as rotations during the outward journey. In experiment 3, the nest was removed after the hamsters had started the direct outward journey to the feeding place and the hamsters were rotated during the food uptake. The animals were no longer oriented towards the starting point of their journey, but nonetheless covered, along a fairly straight path, the correct homing distance, and then changed over to a circular search path. These results confirm that mammals can derive the linear components of an outward journey from self-generated signals and therefore are able to judge the homing distance without relying on cues from the environment. For a number of detour outward journeys, our data yield an unexpectedly good fit to Müller and Wehner's (1988) model of dead reckoning in ants. However, this is no longer the case when the outward journey contains an initial loop which brings the subject back to the starting point. These findings are discussed in terms of the biological significance and limitations of an approximate form of path integration.

Algorithms↗

Evidence of fertility regulation among rural French villagers, 1749-1789: a sequential econometric model of birth-spacing behavior (Part 2).

This is the second part of a two-part paper in which the authors examine statistical models of marital fertility regulation in rural France from 1749 to 1789. They create a case against the "natural fertility" characterization of the period by presenting "clear indications that marital fertility was being regulated in congruence with the differential valuations placed upon children, according to their gender and age. A complex pattern is found in the non-biological responses of couples' fertility to both non-familial and familial experience of infant deaths, which take the form of 'hoarding' and 'replacement effects', respectively. Evidence is present bearing upon the suspected endogeneity of infant deaths, and its relationship to the adoption of preventive methods of limiting family size." (SUMMARY IN FRE)

Birth Intervals↗

Object retrieval preferences of Norway rats: an evolutionary generalization of behavior.

Prior studies have shown that object retrieval (including food hoarding) by domestic rats can occur in the context of different motivations. The present experiments show that retrieval preferences related to two motivational systems, feeding and gnawing, are ordered by object features related to either or both systems. Object retrieval in this species is apparently guided by a generalized value system. The capacity to order alternatives across specific motivational systems has evident selective advantage and may reflect a general adaptive principle.

Animals↗

The orientation of the golden hamster to its nest-site after the elimination of various sensory cues.

Golden hamsters hoard food by carrying it back to their nest-site along a fairly direct path. 7 out of 12 animals continued to orientate in this way after passive transportation to the food source and the simultaneous elimination of visual, olfactory and acoustical cues. Experiments in which the hamsters tried to reach their nest-box from al unfamiliar place suggest that they orientate in a given direction with respect to a 'compass', the nature of which has still to be determined.

Animals↗

PKA and PKC content in the honey bee central brain differs in genotypic strains with distinct foraging behavior.

Selection of honey bees for pollen storage resulted in high and low pollen-hoarding strains differing in foraging behavior traits including resource choice and quality, load size, sucrose responsiveness, age of foraging initiation, and learning performance. To determine how these genotypic differences correlate with changes at the level of proteins involved in neuronal function, we measured the content of protein kinase A, protein kinase C, and synapsin in the brains of high- and low-strain bees. In the central brain protein kinase A and protein kinase C levels were greater in high-strain bees and increased from emergence to 5 days in both strains. By 15 days, high-strain bees retained significantly higher levels of protein kinase C than low-strain bees, but overall protein kinase C content decreased in both strains. Synapsin levels increased from emergence to 5 days but did not differ between the two strains. In contrast to the protein kinase A content in the central brain, the basal protein kinase A activity did not differ between the strains or between the two age groups. This provides first evidence that the two genetic strains of honey bees show characteristic differences in the regulation of protein expression that may contribute to the behavioral differences between them.

Animals↗

The effect of genotype on response thresholds to sucrose and foraging behavior of honey bees (Apis mellifera L.).

Honey bee foragers were tested for their proboscis extension response (PER) to water and varying solutions of sucrose. Returning pollen and nectar foragers were collected at the entrance of a colony and were assayed in the laboratory. Pollen foragers had a significantly higher probability of responding to water and to lower concentrations of sucrose. Bees derived from artificially selected high- and low-pollen-hoarding strains were also tested using the proboscis extension assay. Returning foragers were captured and tested for PERs0 to 30% sucrose. Results demonstrated a genotypic effect on PERs of returnining foragers. The PERs of departing high- and low-strain foragers were consistent with those of returning foragers. The PERs were related to nectar and water reward perception of foragers. High strain bees were more likely to return with loads of water and lower concentrations of sucrose than foragers from low pollen strain. Low-strain bees were more likely to return empty. We identified a previously mapped genomic region that contains a variable quantitative trait locus that appears to influence sucrose response thresholds. These studies demonstrate a gene-brain-behavior pathway that can be altered as a consequence of colony-level selection for quantities of stored food.

Animals↗

The effect of genotype, age, sex, and caste on response thresholds to sucrose and foraging behavior of honey bees (Apis mellifera L.).

Bees derived from artificially selected high- and low-pollen-hoarding strains were tested for their proboscis extension reflex response to water and varying sucrose concentrations. High-strain bees had a lower response threshold to sucrose than low-strain bees among pre-foragers, foragers, queens and drones. Pre-foraging low-strain workers showed ontogenetic changes in their response threshold to sucrose which was inversely related to age. High-strain foragers were more likely to return with loads of water compared to low-strain foragers. Whereas low-strain foragers were more likely to return with loads of nectar. Low-strain nectar foragers collected nectar with significantly higher sucrose concentrations than did the high-strain nectar foragers. Alternatively, low-strain foragers were more likely to return empty compared to high-strain foragers. These studies demonstrate how a genotypically varied sensory-physiological process, the perception of sucrose, are associated with a division of labor for foraging.

Aging↗

Insight and alexithymia in adult outpatients with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

OBJECTIVE: To elucidate the relationships between insight and alexithymia in a sample of adult outpatients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). METHODS: 112 adult outpatients with OCD were tested. Severity of OCD was assessed with the first 10-items of the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) and score for item # 11 on the Y-BOCS was considered as a measure of insight. Alexithymia was measured with 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). Additional measures were Maudsley Hospital Obsessive Compulsive Inventory (MOCI) and Montgomery Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS). RESULTS: Of the patients, 29.5% showed poor or no insight. Patients with poor or no insight were more alexithymic than patients with excellent, good and moderate insight. TAS-20 total score and subfactors positively correlated with score for item # 11 on the Y-BOCS, severity of OCD and MADRS scores. In stepwise regression model, MADRS scores, factor 3 of TAS-20 (Externally Oriented Thinking), somatic and hoarding-saving obsessions were significantly associated with lower insight. CONCLUSIONS: Results show a relationship between poor or absent insight and high alexithymia levels in OCD patients.

Adult↗

Rodent seed predation promotes differential recruitment among bird-dispersed trees in temperate secondary forests.

We investigated the role of seed predation by rodents in the recruitment of the fleshy-fruited trees Taxus baccata, Ilex aquifolium and Crataegus monogyna in temperate secondary forests in NW Spain. We measured the densities of dispersed seeds, early emerged seedlings, established recruits and adults, at four sites over a period of 2 years. Seed predation among species was compared by seed removal experiments and analysis of rodent larder-hoards. The three species differed markedly in local regeneration patterns. The rank order in the seed rain following decreasing seed density was Ilex, Taxus and Crataegus. However, Crataegus established 3.3 times more seedlings than Taxus. For all species, there was a positive linear relationship between the density of emerged seedlings and seed density, suggesting that recruitment was seed- rather than microsite-limited. A consistent pattern of seed selection among species was exerted by rodents, which preferred Taxus and, secondarily, Ilex seeds to Crataegus seeds. Predation ranking was the inverse of that of seed protection against predators, measured as the mass of woody coat per mass unit of the edible fraction. Recruitment potential, evaluated as the ratio of seedlings to seeds, was negatively related to seed predation, with the rank order Crataegus > Ilex > Taxus. The selective early recruitment limitation exerted by predation may have a demographic effect in the long term, as judged by the positive relationship between early seedling emergence and the density of established recruits. By modulating the pre-emptive competition for seed safe sites, rodents may preclude the progressive exclusion of species that produce low numbers of seeds (i.e. Crataegus) by those dominant in seed number (i.e. Ilex, Taxus), or at least foster the evenness for site occupation among seedlings of different species.

Animals↗

Reasons why medicines are returned to Swedish pharmacies unused.

OBJECTIVE: To identify the reasons and their relative importance why medicines are returned to Swedish pharmacies unused. SETTING: A random sample of the pharmacies in Sweden. METHOD: Interviews using a semi-structured interview form with pharmacy customers returning unused medicines to the pharmacy. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Reasons given by patients/relatives/carers for returning unused medicines to the pharmacy. RESULTS: The four main reasons for returning unused medicines to the pharmacy were: (1) the medicines were too old, (2) the user had died, (3) there was no need for the medicine anymore, and (4) therapy changes. These reasons made up 75% of all reported reasons. CONCLUSION: Hoarding or over-supply of prescribed medicines may explain a large part of the volume of medicines that remain unused. Actions aiming to reduce waste of prescribed medicines ought to focus on those patients who contribute to a substantial part of all unused medicines.

Adolescent↗

Contingency management of food misbehavior in a psychiatric patient with diabetes.

A contingency management procedure was instituted with a hospitalized 52-year-old male psychiatric patient to alter behavior associated with an exacerbated diabetic condition. A ten-day baseline indicated consistently elevated urine sugar levels and that the patient frequently violated his prescribed low sugar diet by stealing, trading and hoarding high sugar foods. Beginning in baseline, the patient was instructed to measure his urine sugar levels and post the results on a chart next to his bed. During two of the intervention procedures used in the additive design, the patient could earn coupon booklets from the hospital commissary if his daily average urine sugar levels were less than a set criterion. Two such criteria were employed before the reinforcement contingencies were faded. By the end of the intervention, urine sugar levels were under control and follow-up measures six months post-treatment indicated durable treatment effects.

Behavior Therapy↗

The nature and measurement of compulsive indecisiveness.

Indecisiveness is an often mentioned symptom of obsessive compulsive disorder and obsessive compulsive personality disorder, yet very little research has been done examining its nature and measurement. Three studies are presented here which examine the nature of compulsive indecisiveness using a newly developed scale. In study 1 the Indecisiveness Scale was correlated with measures of obsessionality and compulsive checking among normal S s. It was also correlated with the maladaptive evaluative concern dimensions of perfectionism and with compulsive hoarding. In study 2 indecisive S s (as measured by the Indecisiveness Scale) were found to score higher on measures of procrastination and general psychopathology. In addition, they reported problems in making decisions in a variety of life domains (social, academic, family and everyday). In study 3 S s who scored high on the Indecisiveness Scale were found to have longer latencies on an experimental decision-making task. The implications of these findings for the nature of indecisiveness were discussed.

Adolescent↗

A possible role of hippocampal dysfunction in schizophrenic symptomatology.

The author proposes a pathogenesis for the bizarre, repetitive behaviors frequently seen in deteriorated schizophrenics, i.e., polydipsia, hoarding, pacing, etc. It is argued that such behaviors may have a neurobiology similar to schedule-induced behaviors or incentive-conditioned behaviors described in animal models, which involve the hippocampus, nucleus accumbens, and the neurotransmitter dopamine. Such behaviors are augmented by hippocampal lesions, stress, increased drive state, or dopaminergic agents, and reduced by 6-OH dopamine lesions to nucleus accumbens or antipsychotic agents. These repetitive behaviors may reflect the failure of hippocampus to modulate the impact of mesolimbic dopaminergic activity on the nucleus accumbens and thus on motor behavior. Such a hypothesis is consistent with a growing body of neuropathological and brain imaging results demonstrating hippocampal lesions in chronic schizophrenics.

Animals↗

Effects of one-stage or serial transections of the lateral olfactory tracts on behavior and plasma testosterone levels in male hamsters.

Bilateral transections of the later olfactory (LOT) in male hamsters at the rostral border of the olfactory tubercle or anterior to the tubercle produced severe deficits in mounting, scent marking, food hoarding and nesting behaviors. There were no impairments of these behaviors following unilateral transections. Cutting of the LOT in two stages, and provision of additional experience in sexual and territorial behaviors during the interval between the first and second transection, did not alleviate the behavioral deficits. Impairments in mounting and scent marking were dissociated in some subjects, indicating individual differences in the hamsters' dependence on chemosensory cues for the regulation of these two types of social behavior. It is suggested that the apparent sparing of behavioral function which has been associated with gradual destruction of nervous tissue is due to the development of alternate mechanisms of response to environmental cues, and may be more difficult when brain damage is in structures which initially process these cues. Although sexual and territorial behaviors in the hamster are dependent on gonadal hormones, the observed impairments of these behaviors could not be explained as indirect consequences of lesion effects on the hypophysiogonadal axis. Circulating testosterone (T) levels in experimental subjects were not different from levels in control (sham-operated) subjects. An inverse correlation was observed between the control subjects' circulating T levels and their incidence of scent marking. A similar correlation was observed between postoperative T levels and preoperative marking rates in experimental subjects, despite the fact that most subjects failed to scent mark after bilateral LOT transections. The latter observation strengthens the inference that the bilateral deficits were independent of changes in basal hormone levels.

Animals↗

Monoamine neurotoxins: selective and delayed effects on behavior in colonies of laboratory rats.

Male laboratory rats were raised in two colonies, each of 27 rats, and then given intraventricular injections of the norepinephrine neurotoxin 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) or the serotonin neurotoxin 5,6-dihydroxytryptamine (5,6-DHT) or saline. They were then returned to their enclosure and behavior during the next 50 days was observed. Shortly after neurotoxin injections the 6-OHDA rats spent more time in the burrows than controls and when out were inactive. The 5,6-DHT rats in contrast spent more time in the open than controls, ran more in activity wheels, approached humans, and fought more. Fighting, mounting, and hoarding in the colony gradually increased for 25 days; during this time the status of the 6-OHDA animals fell progressively whereas the 5,6-DHT animals increased in dominance. Social behavior returned to more normal levels after 50 days. Several successive stages of behavioral alterations occur following neurotoxin injections.

Aggression↗

Profound disturbances of spontaneous and learned behaviors following lesions of the nucleus basalis magnocellularis in the rat.

It has been shown that a marked decline in the cortical activity of the cholinergic synthesizing enzyme choline-acetyltransferase (ChAT), accompanied by a severe neuronal loss in the nucleus basalis magnocellularis of Meynert occurs in the brains of patients with senile dementia of the Alzheimer type. However, the functional role of these neurons is largely unknown. In fact, very few studies have been done in animals. In this paper we report the behavioral effects of the lesion of the nucleus basalis magnocellularis in the rat either by radiofrequency current or by ibotenic acid injection at the level of the cell bodies. The two kinds of lesion lead to a profound disturbance of spontaneous and learned behaviors. There is a complete disorganization of behavior which is evidenced by an enhanced locomotor activity, an alteration in alimentary and hoarding behavior. In addition, we observed a deterioration of spatial memory and an incapacity to reverse a previously learned response. Biochemical assay showed that radiofrequency and ibotenic acid lesions produced a decrease of ChAT activity in the prefrontal and sensorimotor cortices and in amygdala without affecting the hippocampus or striatum. Ibotenic acid lesions seem to specifically destroy the cell bodies of the nucleus basalis magnocellularis since the dopaminergic and noradrenergic fibers of passage remained intact as measured by the unchanged level of endogenous catecholamine concentration in the terminal region in the prefrontal cortex. Presently, it cannot be said that the behavioral syndrome results solely from the lesion of the cholinergic neurons. Also, it is likely that the lesion of the nucleus basalis magnocellularis in the rat does not exactly reproduce the behavioral syndrome observed in Alzheimer's disease in man. However, this experimental approach in leading to a better knowledge of the functioning of these neurones could improve our understanding of this disease.

Animals↗

Spontaneous and graft-induced behavioral recovery after 6-hydroxydopamine lesion of the nucleus accumbens in the rat.

In the present study the long-term evolution of behavioral deficits following a local lesion of the dopaminergic innervation of the nucleus accumbens with 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) was compared in two groups of rats: lesioned animals and animals bearing a dopaminergic implant in the nucleus accumbens. Lesioned animals gradually recovered on various behavioral tests (amphetamine-induced locomotion, exploration, hoarding) and were indistinguishable from the control group on most parameters by 10 months postlesion. The deficits were, however, reinstated by a second intra-accumbens 6-OHDA lesion, a finding which suggests a role for dopaminergic reinnervation in the observed recovery. Conversely, grafted animals still displayed marked deficits even 10 months after grafting, although the lesioned areas were well reinnervated by the graft. These results indicate that the graft, while being unable on its own to compensate for part of the deficits, can nevertheless impair and compete with endogenous processes leading to behavioral recovery following a local lesion.

Animals↗