Capturing Heightened Impulsivity In Adolescent Mice using A T-Maze Delay Discounting Task
Abstract
Delay discounting is a well-established measure of heightened impulsive decision-making during adolescence. The VTA and mPFC are implicated in delay discounting and undergo developmental alterations during adolescence. It remains elusive, however, as to whether the functional maturation of this circuit underlies age-dependent changes in delay discounting. In this study, we used a T-maze delay discounting task and found C57BLK6/J wildtype adolescent mice to exhibit steeper delay discounting than adults with a five second delay contingency. This difference in impulsivity was not driven by age-dependent abilities in cognitive and behavioural flexibility. To measure in vivo calcium signaling in dopaminergic VTA axons in the PL during delay discounting decision-making, we injected a Cre-dependent calcium sensor in TH-cre animals and saw no terminal viral expression after thirty days. Furthermore, TH-Cre adolescent animals exposed to deep anaesthetic ketamine did not exhibit heightened impulsivity compared to adult counterparts.
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