PMID- 37541448 OWN - NLM STAT- MEDLINE DCOM- 20230815 LR - 20230815 IS - 1872-7549 (Electronic) IS - 0166-4328 (Linking) VI - 452 DP - 2023 Aug 24 TI - Immp2l knockdown in male mice increases stimulus-driven instrumental behaviour but does not alter goal-directed learning or neuron density in cortico-striatal circuits in a model of Tourette syndrome and autism spectrum disorder. PG - 114610 LID - S0166-4328(23)00328-5 [pii] LID - 10.1016/j.bbr.2023.114610 [doi] AB - Cortico-striatal neurocircuits mediate goal-directed and habitual actions which are necessary for adaptive behaviour. It has recently been proposed that some of the core symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (GTS), such as tics and other repetitive behaviours, may emerge because of imbalances in these neurocircuits. We have recently developed a model of ASD and GTS by knocking down Immp2l, a mitochondrial gene frequently associated with these disorders. The current study sought to determine whether Immp2l knockdown (KD) in male mice alters flexible, goal- or cue- driven behaviour using procedures specifically designed to examine response-outcome and stimulus-response associations, which underlie goal-directed and habitual behaviour, respectively. Whether Immp2l KD alters neuron density in cortico-striatal neurocircuits known to regulate these behaviours was also examined. Immp2l KD mice and wild type-like mice (WT) were trained on Pavlovian and instrumental learning procedures where auditory cues predicted food delivery and lever-press responses earned a food outcome. It was demonstrated that goal-directed learning was not changed for Immp2l KD mice compared to WT mice, as lever-press responses were sensitive to changes in the value of the food outcome, and to contingency reversal and degradation. There was also no difference in the capacity of KD mice to form habitual behaviours compared to WT mice following extending training of the instrumental action. However, Immp2l KD mice were more responsive to auditory stimuli paired with food as indicated by a non-specific increase in lever response rates during Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer. Finally, there were no alterations to neuron density in striatum or any prefrontal cortex or limbic brain structures examined. Thus, the current study suggests that Immp2l is not necessary for learned maladaptive goal or stimulus driven behaviours in ASD or GTS, but that it may contribute to increased capacity for external stimuli to drive behaviour. Alterations to stimulus-driven behaviour could potentially influence the expression of tics and repetitive behaviours, suggesting that genetic alterations to Immp2l may contribute to these core symptoms in ASD and GTS. Given that this is the first application of this battery of instrumental learning procedures to a mouse model of ASD or GTS, it is an important initial step in determining the contribution of known risk-genes to goal-directed versus habitual behaviours, which should be more broadly applied to other rodent models of ASD and GTS in the future. CI - Crown Copyright (c) 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. FAU - Leung, Beatrice K AU - Leung BK AD - Decision Neuroscience Laboratory, School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia. FAU - Merlin, Sam AU - Merlin S AD - School of Science, Western Sydney University, Campbelltown, Sydney, NSW, Australia. FAU - Walker, Adam K AU - Walker AK AD - Laboratory of ImmunoPsychiatry, Neuroscience Research Australia, Randwick, NSW, Australia; Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of New South Wales, NSW, Australia. FAU - Lawther, Adam J AU - Lawther AJ AD - Laboratory of ImmunoPsychiatry, Neuroscience Research Australia, Randwick, NSW, Australia. FAU - Paxinos, George AU - Paxinos G AD - Neuroscience Research Australia, Randwick, NSW, Australia; School of Biomedical Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia. FAU - Eapen, Valsamma AU - Eapen V AD - Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of New South Wales, NSW, Australia; Mental Health Research Unit, South Western Sydney Local Health District, Liverpool, Australia. FAU - Clarke, Raymond AU - Clarke R AD - Ingham Institute, Discipline of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia. FAU - Balleine, Bernard W AU - Balleine BW AD - Decision Neuroscience Laboratory, School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia. FAU - Furlong, Teri M AU - Furlong TM AD - Neuroscience Research Australia, Randwick, NSW, Australia; School of Biomedical Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia. Electronic address: t.furlong@unsw.edu.au. LA - eng PT - Journal Article PT - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't DEP - 20230802 PL - Netherlands TA - Behav Brain Res JT - Behavioural brain research JID - 8004872 RN - EC 3.4.- (inner mitochondrial membrane peptidase 2-like protein, mouse) SB - IM MH - Animals MH - Male MH - Mice MH - *Autism Spectrum Disorder/genetics MH - Goals MH - Neurons/metabolism MH - *Tics MH - *Tourette Syndrome/genetics/metabolism OTO - NOTNLM OT - Autism spectrum disorder OT - Goal-directed learning OT - Habitual behavior OT - Instrumental learning OT - Mouse model OT - Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer OT - Tourette's syndrome OT - Translational models COIS- Declaration of Competing Interest The author declares that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that would have influenced the literature and work reported in this paper. EDAT- 2023/08/05 05:42 MHDA- 2023/08/14 06:42 CRDT- 2023/08/04 19:15 PHST- 2023/02/19 00:00 [received] PHST- 2023/07/22 00:00 [revised] PHST- 2023/08/01 00:00 [accepted] PHST- 2023/08/14 06:42 [medline] PHST- 2023/08/05 05:42 [pubmed] PHST- 2023/08/04 19:15 [entrez] AID - S0166-4328(23)00328-5 [pii] AID - 10.1016/j.bbr.2023.114610 [doi] PST - ppublish SO - Behav Brain Res. 2023 Aug 24;452:114610. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2023.114610. Epub 2023 Aug 2.