Acute serotonin 2A receptor activation impairs behavioral flexibility in mice.
Behavioural brain research October 1, 2020 Dionisio A Amodeo, Omron Hassan, Landon Klein et al. 25 citations
Activating serotonin 2A (5-HT2A) receptors impairs behavioral flexibility in male mice, as measured by a probabilistic reversal learning task. The selective 5-HT2A agonist 25CN-NBOH increased the number of trials needed to reach criterion during reversal learning, while the broader agonist DOI alone did not. However, combining DOI with a 5-HT2C receptor antagonist (SER-082) also impaired reversal learning, suggesting that 5-HT2A and 5-HT2C receptors have opposing effects on this aspect of executive function. All groups performed similarly on the initial spatial discrimination, indicating that the impairment was specific to adapting to changing contingencies.