Degraded Encoding of Reversal Learning Resulting From Abnormal Grooming-Related LOFC Activity Normalizes After Fluoxetine Treatment in a Model of Compulsive Behavior

Abstract

Patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) display abnormal orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) activity during symptom provocation and reversal learning that is normalized by fluoxetine. However, it is unknown if the same OFC neurons encode both behaviors. Using Sapap3-KO mice to model OCD-relevant behaviors (compulsive grooming; impaired reversal learning), we used in vivo calcium imaging to measure self-grooming and reversal learning-related neural activity in the same lateral OFC (LOFC) neurons before and after fluoxetine.