Association for Behavior Analysis International

All psychoactive drugs have multiple effects. They are prescribed in the hopes of benefits such as pain relief, reduction of problem behavior or enhancement of learning and memory. However, in addition to potential benefits, these same drugs may also produce a variety of less desirable effects. In this symposium, three different behavior analytic baselines are used to assess both positive and negative effects of a range of widely-prescribed drugs. Soto will present data on the effects of antipsychotic drugs on progressive-ratio responding and body weight in mice. Galizio will show impairment (ketamine) and enhancement (methylphenidate, memantine) or remembering in novel incrementing matching- and non-matching to-samples tasks in rats. Finally, Pitts focuses on the effects of prescription opiate drugs and sensitivity to reinforcer magnitude in rats. Overall, this symposium will illustrate the value of behavior analytic techniques in the assessment of a range of drug effects of relevance to contemporary prescription practices.

Second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs) are increasingly prescribed in children and adolescents. SGA medication use is associated with adverse metabolic changes and weight gain, which may predispose individuals to adverse outcomes in adulthood. Studies in rodents have demonstrated that early-life exposure to SGA medications can alter brain structure and function in adulthood. The current study is evaluating the long-term behavioral and metabolic effects of early-life SGA exposure in C57BL6/J mice. In one experiment, female C57BL6/J mice orally self-administered plain (vehicle) or risperidone-adulterated cookie dough from postnatal day (PND) 37-66. Mice treated with risperidone gained more weight during the treatment period. The difference in weights between the groups diminished with time following the treatment but was never fully eliminated. Following initial training to nose-poke for access to a 15% sucrose solution, mice were exposed to a progressive ratio schedule of sucrose reinforcement. Risperidone-treated mice completed more ratios than vehicle-treated mice. On PND 196, mice were switched from rodent chow to a high-fat diet. Mice in the risperidone group gained weight more rapidly and to a greater extent than mice in the vehicle group. In an ongoing experiment, young female mice were treated with olanzapine and metabolic and behavioral assessments are underway. Initial results indicate a long-term increased reinforcing effectiveness of sucrose and susceptibility to diet-induced weight gain. Together these experiments indicate that early-life SGA medication exposure can produce long-lasting behavioral and metabolic changes.