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. 1998 Dec;112(6):1475-85.
doi: 10.1037//0735-7044.112.6.1475.

Quinpirole induces compulsive checking behavior in rats: a potential animal model of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

H Szechtman  1 , W Sulis, D Eilam
Affiliations

Quinpirole induces compulsive checking behavior in rats: a potential animal model of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

H Szechtman et al. Behav Neurosci. 1998 Dec.

Abstract

Rats treated chronically with the dopamine agonist quinpirole (0.5 mg/kg, twice weekly x 10) met 5 criteria for performance of compulsive checking. Specifically, in a large open-field with single small objects in 4 of 25 locales, quinpirole rats revisited two places/objects excessively often and rapidly, compared with other locations in the environment or saline controls. They performed a ritual-like set of behavioral acts at these two places/objects and stopped in relatively few locales before returning to the preferred places/objects. Finally, they shifted their behavior to a new location when the object was moved there. Clomipramine (10 mg/kg, daily) postponed but did not prevent the development of the quinpirole effect. Quinpirole-induced compulsive checking may be an exaggeration of normal checking of home site in rats. Results suggest an animal model of obsessive-compulsive disorder and a role for dopamine in this disorder.

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