The long awaited TEL AVIV STUDY has been published!!! The study is titled “Behavioral, Pharmacological, and Immunological Abnormalities after Streptococcal Exposure: A Novel Rat Model of Sydenham Chorea and Related Neuropsychiatric Disorders” has recently been released in the newest issue of Neuropsychopharmacology!
Only the abstract of this study is available for free to the public. This study was to show what occur when strep exposure occurs to this new rat model. Examples of what occurs includes “(impaired food manipulation and beam walking) and compulsive behavior (increased induced-grooming)”.
We thank Drs. Brimberg, Cunningham, Swedo, Joel, Leckman, Benhar, Mascaro-Blanco, Alvarez, Lotan, Winter, Klein, Moses, and Somnier for this great work!
Behavioral, Pharmacological, and Immunological Abnormalities after Streptococcal Exposure: A Novel Rat Model of Sydenham Chorea and Related Neuropsychiatric Disorders
Lior Brimberg, Itai Benhar, Adita Mascaro-Blanco, Kathy Alvarez, Dafna Lotan, Christine Winter, Julia Klein, Allon E Moses, Finn E Somnier, James F Leckman, Susan E Swedo, Madeleine W Cunningham and Daphna Joel
Abstract
Group A streptococcal (GAS) infections and autoimmunity are associated with the onset of a spectrum of neuropsychiatric disorders in children, with the prototypical disorder being Sydenham chorea (SC). Our aim was to develop an animal model that resembled the behavioral, pharmacological, and immunological abnormalities of SC and other streptococcal-related neuropsychiatric disorders. Male Lewis rats exposed to GAS antigen exhibited motor symptoms (impaired food manipulation and beam walking) and compulsive behavior (increased induced-grooming). These symptoms were alleviated by the D2 blocker haloperidol and the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor paroxetine, respectively, drugs that are used to treat motor symptoms and compulsions in streptococcal-related neuropsychiatric disorders. Streptococcal exposure resulted in antibody deposition in the striatum, thalamus, and frontal cortex, and concomitant alterations in dopamine and glutamate levels in cortex and basal ganglia, consistent with the known pathophysiology of SC and related neuropsychiatric disorders. Autoantibodies (IgG) of GAS rats reacted with tubulin and caused elevated calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II signaling in SK-N-SH neuronal cells, as previously found with sera from SC and related neuropsychiatric disorders. Our new animal model translates directly to human disease and led us to discover autoantibodies targeted against dopamine D1 and D2 receptors in the rat model as well as in SC and other streptococcal-related neuropsychiatric disorders.Neuropsychopharmacology advance online publication, 25 April 2012; doi:10.1038/npp.2012.56.
PMID: 22534626 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
