Dissection of molecular and neural circuits underlying impulse control disorders: A translational approach – DISCOMMODE

Impulse control disorders (ICDs), for example gambling behaviors, hypersexuality or compulsive eating, are characterized by urges and excessive and uncontrolled behaviors, which ultimately can become harmful. Although ICDs are on the rise and a growing socio-economic burden, the underlying molecular and cellular mechanisms, as well as neural circuits remain poorly understood. With the use of translational and state-of-the art conditional, transcriptomic and electrophysiological approaches, we propose here to 1) elucidate the mechanistic underpinnings of ICDs in a rodent model of impulsive behaviors and 2) identify and validating new biomarker(s) for ICDs in patients treated with dopaminergic agonists. This multidisciplinary project, which includes 5 partners, is likely to provide new tools and therapeutic approaches for a better management of ICDs.