Astrocytic glutamate transporter 1 (GLT1) deficient mice exhibit repetitive behaviors.
Authors: Jia YF, Wininger K, Peyton L, Ho AM, Choi DS
Journal: Behavioural brain research
Fear conditioning
Glutamate transporter 1 (GLT1)
Grooming
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
Repetitive behavior
Wheel running activity
Animals
Astrocytes
Behavior, Animal
Conditioning, Classical
Disease Models, Animal
Excitatory Amino Acid Transporter 2
Fear
Locomotion
Mice
Abstract
Glutamatergic dysregulation is known to contribute to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Astrocytic glutamate transporter 1 (GLT1) is responsible for the majority of glutamate clearance. However, the role of GLT1 in OCD-like behavior remains unclear. Here, we found that astrocytic GLT1 deficient mice showed increased wheel running activity but reduced home cage activity. Notably, they exhibited elevated grooming/rearing time and increased repetitive behavior counts in contextual and cued fear conditioning. In addition, they showed increased rearing counts in the metabolic chamber, and also augmented rearing time and jumping counts in the open field test. Taken together, our findings suggest that astrocytic GLT1 deficiency promotes OCD-like repetitive behaviors.