Editor's Summary
23 August 2007
A model for obsession
The underlying neurobiology of obsessive-compulsive disorder is largely unknown, although disruptions in corticostriatal circuits are suspected. For many medical conditions, mouse models provide a means of examining pathogenesis and drug testing. Surprisingly, that option is now available for obsessive-compulsive disorder too. Targeted deletion of SAPAP3, a postsynaptic scaffolding protein highly expressed in the striatum, yields mice with many of the behavioural characteristics of obsessive-compulsive disorder: they compulsively self-groom, display anxiety, and have abnormal corticostriatal physiology. The behavioural signs are alleviated by selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, drugs used to treat obsessive-compulsive disorder.
News and Views: Neuroscience: Obsessed with grooming
Roughly 2% of humans suffer from obsessive compulsive disorder, but a lack of animal models has impeded research into this condition. Could a genetically engineered mouse model provide an exciting lead?
Steven E. Hyman
doi:10.1038/448871a
Article: Cortico-striatal synaptic defects and OCD-like behaviours in Sapap3-mutant mice
Jeffrey M. Welch, Jing Lu, Ramona M. Rodriguiz, Nicholas C. Trotta, Joao Peca, Jin-Dong Ding, Catia Feliciano, Meng Chen, J. Paige Adams, Jianhong Luo, Serena M. Dudek, Richard J. Weinberg, Nicole Calakos, William C. Wetsel & Guoping Feng
doi:10.1038/nature06104
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (739K) | Supplementary information