Research reportDifferent relations between schedule-induced polydipsia and impulsive behaviour in the Spontaneously Hypertensive Rat and in high impulsive Wistar rats: Questioning the role of impulsivity in adjunctive behaviour

- The SHR showed higher prior impulsivity than WKY controls in delay discounting.
- SHRs showed higher adjunctive drinking at long inter-food intervals than WKY rats.
- High- vs. low-impulsive Wistar rats showed in general less schedule-induced drinking.
- Retesting delay discounting resulted in a convergence among the groups of rats.
- Impulsivity is not an adequate predictor of schedule-induced polydipsia development.

Rats belonging to three different strains (15 Wistar, 8 Spontaneously Hypertensive - SHR- and 8 Wistar Kyoto - WKY-) were used to evaluate the possible relationship between different levels of impulsivity and development of schedule-induced polydipsia (SIP). We first measured the rats' levels of impulsivity by means of delay-discounting and indifference-point procedures. Secondly, development of SIP was studied under a series of fixed time 15, 30, 60 and 120 s food schedules, which were counterbalanced by means of a Latin-square design. Finally, we re-assessed the rats' levels of impulsivity by replicating the delay-discounting test. The findings showed that, starting from equivalent levels of impulsivity, development of SIP differed among the groups of rats. In comparison with the rest of the animals, the SHRs were observed to attain elevated drinking rates under SIP. On the other hand, the Wistar rats which had initial high impulsivity levels similar to those of the SHRs, displayed the lowest rates of induced drinking. Moreover, low levels of impulsivity in Wistar rats prior to SIP acquisition were reflected into high drinking rates. Relation of SIP and impulsivity is questioned by present results, which gives ground to the understanding of the behavioural mechanisms involved in adjunctive behaviour and its usefulness as an animal model of excessive behaviour.