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Cerqueira-Nunes M, Monteiro C, Galhardo V, Cardoso-Cruz H. Orbitostriatal encoding of reward delayed gratification and impulsivity in chronic pain. Brain Res 2024; 1839:149044. [PMID: 38821332 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2024.149044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2024] [Revised: 05/17/2024] [Accepted: 05/28/2024] [Indexed: 06/02/2024]
Abstract
Central robust network functional rearrangement is a characteristic of several neurological conditions, including chronic pain. Preclinical and clinical studies have shown the importance of pain-induced dysfunction in both orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and nucleus accumbens (NAc) brain regions for the emergence of cognitive deficits. Outcome information processing recruits the orbitostriatal circuitry, a pivotal pathway regarding context-dependent reward value encoding. The current literature reveals the existence of structural and functional changes in the orbitostriatal crosstalk in chronic pain conditions, which have emerged as a possible underlying cause for reward and time discrimination impairments observed in individuals affected by such disturbances. However, more comprehensive investigations are needed to elucidate the underlying disturbances that underpin disease development. In this review article, we aim to provide a comprehensive view of the orbitostriatal mechanisms underlying time-reward dependent behaviors, and integrate previous findings on local and network malplasticity under the framework of the chronic pain sphere.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mariana Cerqueira-Nunes
- Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde (i3S) - Pain Neurobiology Group, Universidade do Porto, Rua Alfredo Allen 208, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal; Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular (IBMC), Universidade do Porto, Rua Alfredo Allen 208, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal; Faculdade de Medicina, Departamento de Biomedicina - Unidade de Biologia Experimental (FMUP), Universidade do Porto, Rua Doutor Plácido da Costa, 4200-450 Porto, Portugal; Programa doutoral em Neurociências (PDN), Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade do Porto, Rua Doutor Plácido da Costa, 4200-450 Porto, Portugal
| | - Clara Monteiro
- Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde (i3S) - Pain Neurobiology Group, Universidade do Porto, Rua Alfredo Allen 208, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal; Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular (IBMC), Universidade do Porto, Rua Alfredo Allen 208, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal; Faculdade de Medicina, Departamento de Biomedicina - Unidade de Biologia Experimental (FMUP), Universidade do Porto, Rua Doutor Plácido da Costa, 4200-450 Porto, Portugal
| | - Vasco Galhardo
- Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde (i3S) - Pain Neurobiology Group, Universidade do Porto, Rua Alfredo Allen 208, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal; Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular (IBMC), Universidade do Porto, Rua Alfredo Allen 208, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal; Faculdade de Medicina, Departamento de Biomedicina - Unidade de Biologia Experimental (FMUP), Universidade do Porto, Rua Doutor Plácido da Costa, 4200-450 Porto, Portugal
| | - Helder Cardoso-Cruz
- Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde (i3S) - Pain Neurobiology Group, Universidade do Porto, Rua Alfredo Allen 208, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal; Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular (IBMC), Universidade do Porto, Rua Alfredo Allen 208, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal; Faculdade de Medicina, Departamento de Biomedicina - Unidade de Biologia Experimental (FMUP), Universidade do Porto, Rua Doutor Plácido da Costa, 4200-450 Porto, Portugal.
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Gabriel DB, Havugimana F, Liley AE, Aguilar I, Yeasin M, Simon NW. Lateral Orbitofrontal Cortex Encodes Presence of Risk and Subjective Risk Preference During Decision-Making. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.04.08.588332. [PMID: 38645204 PMCID: PMC11030364 DOI: 10.1101/2024.04.08.588332] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/23/2024]
Abstract
Adaptive decision-making requires consideration of objective risks and rewards associated with each option, as well as subjective preference for risky/safe alternatives. Inaccurate risk/reward estimations can engender excessive risk-taking, a central trait in many psychiatric disorders. The lateral orbitofrontal cortex (lOFC) has been linked to many disorders associated with excessively risky behavior and is ideally situated to mediate risky decision-making. Here, we used single-unit electrophysiology to measure neuronal activity from lOFC of freely moving rats performing in a punishment-based risky decision-making task. Subjects chose between a small, safe reward and a large reward associated with either 0% or 50% risk of concurrent punishment. lOFC activity repeatedly encoded current risk in the environment throughout the decision-making sequence, signaling risk before, during, and after a choice. In addition, lOFC encoded reward magnitude, although this information was only evident during action selection. A Random Forest classifier successfully used neural data accurately to predict the risk of punishment in any given trial, and the ability to predict choice via lOFC activity differentiated between and risk-preferring and risk-averse rats. Finally, risk preferring subjects demonstrated reduced lOFC encoding of risk and increased encoding of reward magnitude. These findings suggest lOFC may serve as a central decision-making hub in which external, environmental information converges with internal, subjective information to guide decision-making in the face of punishment risk.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel B.K. Gabriel
- Department of Psychiatry, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN 46202
| | - Felix Havugimana
- Department of Computer Engineering, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, 38152
| | - Anna E. Liley
- Institut du Cerveau/Paris Brain Institute, Paris, France, 75013
| | - Ivan Aguilar
- Department of Psychology, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, 38152
| | - Mohammed Yeasin
- Department of Computer Engineering, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, 38152
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3
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Schmitz F, Ferreira FS, Silveira JS, V. R. Júnior O, T. S. Wyse A. Effects of methylphenidate after a long period of discontinuation include changes in exploratory behavior and increases brain activities of Na+,K+-ATPase and acetylcholinesterase. Neurobiol Learn Mem 2022; 192:107637. [DOI: 10.1016/j.nlm.2022.107637] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2021] [Revised: 04/04/2022] [Accepted: 05/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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4
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Silveira MM, Wittekindt SN, Ebsary S, Winstanley CA. Evaluation of cognitive effort in rats is not critically dependent on ventrolateral orbitofrontal cortex. Eur J Neurosci 2020; 53:852-860. [PMID: 32810880 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.14940] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2020] [Revised: 08/07/2020] [Accepted: 08/12/2020] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Organisms must frequently evaluate the amount of effort to invest in pursuing future rewards. Despite explicit awareness of the potential benefits of cognitive work, individuals vary in their willingness to attempt cognitively demanding tasks, regardless of intellectual ability. Such differences may suggest that the degree to which cognitive effort degrades perceived outcome value is a subjective, rather than objective, process, similar to risk and delay discounting. Although numerous studies suggest the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is important for allowing subjective value estimates to be updated and/or used in cost/benefit decision-making, the causal role of the OFC in valuations of mental effort has received scant investigation. We therefore trained 24 female Long-Evans rats on the rodent cognitive effort task (rCET) and assessed performance following temporary bilateral inactivation of the ventrolateral OFC (vlOFC). In the rCET, rats decide at trial outset whether to perform an easy or hard attentional challenge, namely to localize a brief visual stimulus to one of five possible locations. The difficulty of the challenge is determined by the stimulus duration (1.0 vs. 0.2s for easy vs. hard trials respectively), and success on hard trials results in double the sugar pellet rewards. Somewhat surprisingly, inactivations of the vlOFC did not affect rats' willingness or ability to exert cognitive effort for larger rewards, despite increasing omissions and motor impulsivity on-task. When considered with previous work, it appears the vlOFC plays a minimal role in cognitive effort allocation specifically, and in valuations of effort more generally.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mason M Silveira
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
- Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Sebastian N Wittekindt
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
- Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Sophie Ebsary
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
- Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Catharine A Winstanley
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
- Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
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5
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Freeland CM, Knes AS, Robinson MJF. Translating concepts of risk and loss in rodent models of gambling and the limitations for clinical applications. Curr Opin Behav Sci 2020; 31:76-82. [PMID: 32864399 DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2019.12.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
Gambling involves placing something of value at risk in exchange for the opportunity to potentially gain something of greater value in return. A variety of gambling paradigms have been designed to study the maladaptive decision-making that underlies problematic gambling. Central to these gambling models are the definitions of "risk" and "loss", especially when translating the results from rodent studies to clinical applications. Risk and loss are not mutually exclusive but rather share some overlap. With careful interpretation and consideration of the limitations of these behavioral paradigms, results from rodent models may provide insights into the neurobiology of risky decision-making that leads to problematic gambling in humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- C M Freeland
- Neuroscience & Behavior Program, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, 06459, USA.,Department of Biology, Wesleyan University, 52 Lawn Avenue, Middletown, CT, 06459, USA
| | - A S Knes
- Neuroscience & Behavior Program, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, 06459, USA.,Department of Psychology, Wesleyan University, 207 High Street, Middletown, CT, 06459, USA
| | - M J F Robinson
- Neuroscience & Behavior Program, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, 06459, USA.,Department of Psychology, Wesleyan University, 207 High Street, Middletown, CT, 06459, USA
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Kuhn BN, Kalivas PW, Bobadilla AC. Understanding Addiction Using Animal Models. Front Behav Neurosci 2019; 13:262. [PMID: 31849622 PMCID: PMC6895146 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2019.00262] [Citation(s) in RCA: 73] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2019] [Accepted: 11/15/2019] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Drug addiction is a neuropsychiatric disorder with grave personal consequences that has an extraordinary global economic impact. Despite decades of research, the options available to treat addiction are often ineffective because our rudimentary understanding of drug-induced pathology in brain circuits and synaptic physiology inhibits the rational design of successful therapies. This understanding will arise first from animal models of addiction where experimentation at the level of circuits and molecular biology is possible. We will review the most common preclinical models of addictive behavior and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each. This includes non-contingent models in which animals are passively exposed to rewarding substances, as well as widely used contingent models such as drug self-administration and relapse. For the latter, we elaborate on the different ways of mimicking craving and relapse, which include using acute stress, drug administration or exposure to cues and contexts previously paired with drug self-administration. We further describe paradigms where drug-taking is challenged by alternative rewards, such as appetitive foods or social interaction. In an attempt to better model the individual vulnerability to drug abuse that characterizes human addiction, the field has also established preclinical paradigms in which drug-induced behaviors are ranked by various criteria of drug use in the presence of negative consequences. Separation of more vulnerable animals according to these criteria, along with other innate predispositions including goal- or sign-tracking, sensation-seeking behavior or impulsivity, has established individual genetic susceptibilities to developing drug addiction and relapse vulnerability. We further examine current models of behavioral addictions such as gambling, a disorder included in the DSM-5, and exercise, mentioned in the DSM-5 but not included yet due to insufficient peer-reviewed evidence. Finally, after reviewing the face validity of the aforementioned models, we consider the most common standardized tests used by pharmaceutical companies to assess the addictive potential of a drug during clinical trials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brittany N Kuhn
- Department of Neuroscience, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, United States
| | - Peter W Kalivas
- Department of Neuroscience, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, United States
| | - Ana-Clara Bobadilla
- Department of Neuroscience, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, United States
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7
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Investigating the influence of 'losses disguised as wins' on decision making and motivation in rats. Behav Pharmacol 2019; 29:732-744. [PMID: 30376458 DOI: 10.1097/fbp.0000000000000455] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/30/2023]
Abstract
Multiline slot machines encourage continued play through 'losses disguised as wins' (LDWs), outcomes in which the money returned is less than that wagered. Individuals with gambling problems may be susceptible to this game feature. The cognitive and neurobiological mechanisms through which LDWs act are unknown. In a novel rat operant task, animals chose between a 'certain' lever, which always delivered two sugar pellets, or an 'uncertain' lever, resulting in four sugar pellets on 50% of trials. LDWs were then introduced as a return of three sugar pellets on 30-40% of uncertain rewarded trials. For half the rats, winning outcomes were paired with audiovisual feedback (cues). In a second study, the basolateral amygdala (BLA) was inactivated during initial presentation of LDWs. While LDWs shifted most rats' choice toward the certain lever, a subgroup of LDW vulnerable rats continued to choose the uncertain option, when the reward rate diminished. This profile of LDW vulnerability was reproduced after inactivating the BLA. Persistent choice of uncertain outcomes despite lower reward rates may reflect impaired functioning within the BLA. Future work using this model may provide insight into the neurobiological mechanisms contributing to the motivational properties of LDWs and their contribution to problematic gambling.
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Hong DD, Huang WQ, Ji AA, Yang SS, Xu H, Sun KY, Cao A, Gao WJ, Zhou N, Yu P. Neurons in rat orbitofrontal cortex and medial prefrontal cortex exhibit distinct responses in reward and strategy-update in a risk-based decision-making task. Metab Brain Dis 2019; 34:417-429. [PMID: 30535618 DOI: 10.1007/s11011-018-0360-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2017] [Accepted: 12/03/2018] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) are known to participate in risk-based decision-making. However, whether neuronal activities of these two brain regions play similar or differential roles during different stages of risk-based decision-making process remains unknown. Here we conducted multi-channel in vivo recordings in the OFC and mPFC simultaneously when rats were performing a gambling task. Rats were trained to update strategy as the task was shifted in two stages. Behavioral testing suggests that rats exhibited different risk preferences and response latencies to food rewards during stage-1 and stage-2. Indeed, the firing patterns and numbers of non-specific neurons and nosepoking-predicting neurons were similar in OFC and mPFC. However, there were no reward-expecting neurons and significantly more reward-excitatory neurons (fired as rats received rewards) in the mPFC. Further analyses suggested that nosepoking-predicting neurons may encode the overall value of reward and strategy, whereas reward-expecting neurons show more intensive firing to a big food reward in the OFC. Nosepoking-predicting neurons in mPFC showed no correlation with decision-making strategy updating, whereas the response of reward-excitatory neurons in mPFC, which were barely observed in OFC, were inhibited during nosepoking, but were enhanced in the post-nosepoking period. These findings indicate that neurons in the OFC and mPFC exhibit distinct responses in decision-making process during reward consumption and strategy updating. Specifically, OFC encodes the overall value of a choice and is thus important for learning and strategy updating, whereas mPFC plays a key role in monitoring and execution of a strategy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dan-Dan Hong
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Learning and Cognition, College of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing, 100037, China
| | - Wen-Qiang Huang
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Learning and Cognition, College of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing, 100037, China
| | - Ai-Ai Ji
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Learning and Cognition, College of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing, 100037, China
| | - Sha-Sha Yang
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Learning and Cognition, College of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing, 100037, China
| | - Hui Xu
- Interdepartmental Program in Neuroscience, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
| | - Ke-Yi Sun
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Learning and Cognition, College of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing, 100037, China
| | - Aihua Cao
- Department of Pediatrics, Shandong University Qilu Hospital, Jinan, China
| | - Wen-Jun Gao
- Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, 19129, USA
| | - Ning Zhou
- The General Hospital of Chinese People's Liberation Army, Beijing, 100853, China.
| | - Ping Yu
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Learning and Cognition, College of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing, 100037, China.
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9
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Deciphering Decision Making: Variation in Animal Models of Effort- and Uncertainty-Based Choice Reveals Distinct Neural Circuitries Underlying Core Cognitive Processes. J Neurosci 2017; 36:12069-12079. [PMID: 27903717 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1713-16.2016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 72] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2016] [Revised: 10/06/2016] [Accepted: 10/19/2016] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Maladaptive decision-making is increasingly recognized to play a significant role in numerous psychiatric disorders, such that therapeutics capable of ameliorating core impairments in judgment may be beneficial in a range of patient populations. The field of "decision neuroscience" is therefore in its ascendancy, with researchers from diverse fields bringing their expertise to bear on this complex and fascinating problem. In addition to the advances in neuroimaging and computational neuroscience that contribute enormously to this area, an increase in the complexity and sophistication of behavioral paradigms designed for nonhuman laboratory animals has also had a significant impact on researchers' ability to test the causal nature of hypotheses pertaining to the neural circuitry underlying the choice process. Multiple such decision-making assays have been developed to investigate the neural and neurochemical bases of different types of cost/benefit decisions. However, what may seem like relatively trivial variation in behavioral methodologies can actually result in recruitment of distinct cognitive mechanisms, and alter the neurobiological processes that regulate choice. Here we focus on two areas of particular interest, namely, decisions that involve an assessment of uncertainty or effort, and compare some of the most prominent behavioral paradigms that have been used to investigate these processes in laboratory rodents. We illustrate how an appreciation of the diversity in the nature of these tasks can lead to important insights into the circumstances under which different neural regions make critical contributions to decision making.
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Heilbronner SR. Modeling risky decision-making in nonhuman animals: shared core features. Curr Opin Behav Sci 2017; 16:23-29. [PMID: 28523287 DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2017.03.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Understanding the neural mechanisms of risky decision-making is critical to developing appropriate treatments for psychiatric disorders, problem gambling, and addiction to drugs of abuse. Probing neurobiological mechanisms requires the use of nonhuman animal models (particularly rhesus macaques, rats, and mice). However, there is considerable variation across species in risk preferences. Nevertheless, there are shared core features of risky decision-making present across species. As demonstrated with a wide variety of behavioral paradigms, modulators of risk preference observed in humans are readily replicated in model species. Thus, risky decision-making represents an important implementation of reward-guided decision-making that is feasibly modeled across species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah R Heilbronner
- Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, 601 Elmwood Ave, Box 711, Rochester, NY 14642
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11
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Nautiyal KM, Okuda M, Hen R, Blanco C. Gambling disorder: an integrative review of animal and human studies. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2017; 1394:106-127. [PMID: 28486792 PMCID: PMC5466885 DOI: 10.1111/nyas.13356] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2016] [Revised: 03/08/2017] [Accepted: 03/22/2017] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Gambling disorder (GD), previously called pathological gambling and classified as an impulse control disorder in DSM-III and DSM-IV, has recently been reclassified as an addictive disorder in the DSM-5. It is widely recognized as an important public health problem associated with substantial personal and social costs, high rates of psychiatric comorbidity, poor physical health, and elevated suicide rates. A number of risk factors have been identified, including some genetic polymorphisms. Animal models have been developed in order to study the underlying neural basis of GD. Here, we discuss recent advances in our understanding of the risk factors, disease course, and pathophysiology. A focus on a phenotype-based dissection of the disorder is included in which known neural correlates from animal and human studies are reviewed. Finally, current treatment approaches are discussed, as well as future directions for GD research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katherine M. Nautiyal
- New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, New York
- Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, New York
| | - Mayumi Okuda
- New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, New York
- Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, New York
| | - Rene Hen
- New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, New York
- Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, New York
- Departments of Neuroscience and Pharmacology, Columbia University, New York, New York
| | - Carlos Blanco
- National Institute on Drug Abuse, Rockville, Maryland
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12
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Amodeo LR, Jacobs-Brichford E, McMurray MS, Roitman JD. Acute and long-term effects of adolescent methylphenidate on decision-making and dopamine receptor mRNA expression in the orbitofrontal cortex. Behav Brain Res 2017; 324:100-108. [PMID: 28212944 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2017.02.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2016] [Revised: 02/01/2017] [Accepted: 02/11/2017] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Though commonly used as a treatment for ADHD, the psychostimulant methylphenidate (MPH) is also misused and abused in adolescence in both clinical and general populations. Although MPH acts via pathways activated by other drugs of abuse, the short- and long-term effects of MPH on reward processing in learning and decision-making are not clearly understood. We examined the effect of adolescent MPH treatment on a battery of reward-directed behaviors both in adolescence during its administration and in adulthood after its discontinuation. We further measured whether MPH had lasting effects on dopamine receptor mRNA expression in orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) that may correspond with behavior. Long-Evans rats were injected with MPH (0, 1, 2.5, or 5mg/kg IP) twice daily from middle to late adolescence (PD38-57). During adolescence, the high dose of MPH reduced preference for large rewards in a Reward Magnitude Discrimination task, but did not affect preference for smaller-sooner rewards in a Delay Discounting task. In adulthood, after discontinuation of MPH, animals previously treated with the moderate dose of MPH showed improved acquisition, but not reversal, in a Reversal Learning task. MPH exposure did not increase preference for large-risky rewards in a Risk task in adulthood. We then quantified mRNA expression of D1, D2, and D3 receptors in the OFC using qPCR. MPH increased mRNA expression of dopamine D3 receptor subtype, but not D1 or D2. Overall, these results indicate that MPH has both immediate and lasting effects on reward-dependent learning and decisions, as well as dopaminergic function in rodents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leslie R Amodeo
- Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1007 West Harrison Street, Chicago, IL 60607, USA
| | - Eliza Jacobs-Brichford
- Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1007 West Harrison Street, Chicago, IL 60607, USA
| | - Matthew S McMurray
- Department of Psychology, Miami University, 90 N Patterson Ave, Oxford, OH 45056, USA
| | - Jamie D Roitman
- Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1007 West Harrison Street, Chicago, IL 60607, USA; Laboratory of Integrative Neuroscience, University of Illinois at Chicago,1007 West Harrison Street, Chicago, IL 60607, USA.
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13
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Cognitive flexibility: Development, disease and treatment. Neuroscience 2016; 345:1-2. [PMID: 28034728 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2016.12.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/09/2016] [Accepted: 12/15/2016] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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