Asymmetric rotational (circling) behavior, a dopamine-related asymmetry: Preliminary findings in unmedicated and never-medicated schizophrenic patients

doi:10.1016/0006-3223(87)90009-6

Biological Psychiatry

Volume 22, Issue 8, August 1987, Pages 995-1003

https://doi.org/10.1016/0006-3223(87)90009-6 Get rights and content

Abstract

Circling behavior is one of the best understood behaviors in animals. It is, for the most part, dopaminergically mediated and related to asymmetry in dopaminergic activity between the left and right basal ganglia or left and right frontal cortex. As a rule, animals rotate toward the hemisphere with lower striatal dopaminergic activity. A direct technique to find human analogs of circling behavior was not available. We have developed an automated rotometer with which we can apply the circling rodent model to humans. Leftprone circling behavior (neglect of right-sided turning) was found in 10 unmedicated schizophrenic patients, whereas 85 normal controls demonstrated almost equal right and left turning. These preliminary results may suggest the presence of a dopaminergic asymmetry in some unmedicated schizophrenic patients ; that is, right anterior subcortical or cortical structures of the brain may manifest a relative dopaminergic overactivity compared to left anterior structures in at least some unmedicated patients with schizophrenia.

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^☆: Supported in part by a grant from the Veterans Administration.

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Asymmetric rotational (circling) behavior, a dopamine-related asymmetry: Preliminary findings in unmedicated and never-medicated schizophrenic patients☆

Abstract

Biol Psychiatry

Life Sci

Behav Brain Res

Eur J Pharmacol

Brain Res

Trends Neurosci

Brain Res

Pharmacol Biochem Behav

Psychiatry Res

J Psychiatr Res

Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry

Neuroscience

Eur J Pharmacol

Behav Brain Res

Brain Res

The intraclass correlation coefficient as a measure of reliability

Psychol Rep

Spontaneous circling behavior (rotational bias) in humans: Normative data

Rotational preference (circling behavior) in schizophrenia

Rotational movement (circling) in normal humans: Sex differences and relationship to hand, food and eye preference

Brain Res

Cerebral glucography with positron tomography

Arch Gen Psychiatry