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Raghanti MA, Miller EN, Jones DN, Smith HN, Munger EL, Edler MK, Phillips KA, Hopkins WD, Hof PR, Sherwood CC, Lovejoy CO. Hedonic eating, obesity, and addiction result from increased neuropeptide Y in the nucleus accumbens during human brain evolution. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2311118120. [PMID: 37695892 PMCID: PMC10515152 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2311118120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2023] [Accepted: 07/25/2023] [Indexed: 09/13/2023] Open
Abstract
The nucleus accumbens (NAc) is central to motivation and action, exhibiting one of the highest densities of neuropeptide Y (NPY) in the brain. Within the NAc, NPY plays a role in reward and is involved in emotional behavior and in increasing alcohol and drug addiction and fat intake. Here, we examined NPY innervation and neurons of the NAc in humans and other anthropoid primates in order to determine whether there are differences among these various species that would correspond to behavioral or life history variables. We quantified NPY-immunoreactive axons and neurons in the NAc of 13 primate species, including humans, great apes, and monkeys. Our data show that the human brain is unique among primates in having denser NPY innervation within the NAc, as measured by axon length density to neuron density, even after accounting for brain size. Combined with our previous finding of increased dopaminergic innervation in the same region, our results suggest that the neurochemical profile of the human NAc appears to have rendered our species uniquely susceptible to neurophysiological conditions such as addiction. The increase in NPY specific to the NAc may represent an adaptation that favors fat intake and contributes to an increased vulnerability to eating disorders, obesity, as well as alcohol and drug dependence. Along with our findings for dopamine, these deeply rooted structural attributes of the human brain are likely to have emerged early in the human clade, laying the groundwork for later brain expansion and the development of cognitive and behavioral specializations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mary Ann Raghanti
- Department of Anthropology and School of Biomedical Sciences, Kent State University, Kent, OH44242
- Brain Health Research Institute, Kent State University, Kent, OH44242
| | - Elaine N. Miller
- Department of Anthropology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC20052
- Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC20052
| | - Danielle N. Jones
- Department of Anthropology and School of Biomedical Sciences, Kent State University, Kent, OH44242
- Brain Health Research Institute, Kent State University, Kent, OH44242
| | - Heather N. Smith
- Department of Anthropology and School of Biomedical Sciences, Kent State University, Kent, OH44242
- Brain Health Research Institute, Kent State University, Kent, OH44242
| | - Emily L. Munger
- Department of Anthropology and School of Biomedical Sciences, Kent State University, Kent, OH44242
- Brain Health Research Institute, Kent State University, Kent, OH44242
| | - Melissa K. Edler
- Department of Anthropology and School of Biomedical Sciences, Kent State University, Kent, OH44242
- Brain Health Research Institute, Kent State University, Kent, OH44242
| | - Kimberley A. Phillips
- Department of Psychology, Trinity University, San Antonio, TX78212
- Southwest National Primate Research Center, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio, TX78245
| | - William D. Hopkins
- Department of Comparative Medicine, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Bastrop, TX78602
| | - Patrick R. Hof
- Nash Family Department of Neuroscience and Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY10029
| | - Chet C. Sherwood
- Department of Anthropology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC20052
- Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC20052
| | - C. Owen Lovejoy
- Department of Anthropology and School of Biomedical Sciences, Kent State University, Kent, OH44242
- Brain Health Research Institute, Kent State University, Kent, OH44242
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de Sousa AA, Beaudet A, Calvey T, Bardo A, Benoit J, Charvet CJ, Dehay C, Gómez-Robles A, Gunz P, Heuer K, van den Heuvel MP, Hurst S, Lauters P, Reed D, Salagnon M, Sherwood CC, Ströckens F, Tawane M, Todorov OS, Toro R, Wei Y. From fossils to mind. Commun Biol 2023; 6:636. [PMID: 37311857 PMCID: PMC10262152 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-023-04803-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2022] [Accepted: 04/04/2023] [Indexed: 06/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Fossil endocasts record features of brains from the past: size, shape, vasculature, and gyrification. These data, alongside experimental and comparative evidence, are needed to resolve questions about brain energetics, cognitive specializations, and developmental plasticity. Through the application of interdisciplinary techniques to the fossil record, paleoneurology has been leading major innovations. Neuroimaging is shedding light on fossil brain organization and behaviors. Inferences about the development and physiology of the brains of extinct species can be experimentally investigated through brain organoids and transgenic models based on ancient DNA. Phylogenetic comparative methods integrate data across species and associate genotypes to phenotypes, and brains to behaviors. Meanwhile, fossil and archeological discoveries continuously contribute new knowledge. Through cooperation, the scientific community can accelerate knowledge acquisition. Sharing digitized museum collections improves the availability of rare fossils and artifacts. Comparative neuroanatomical data are available through online databases, along with tools for their measurement and analysis. In the context of these advances, the paleoneurological record provides ample opportunity for future research. Biomedical and ecological sciences can benefit from paleoneurology's approach to understanding the mind as well as its novel research pipelines that establish connections between neuroanatomy, genes and behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Amélie Beaudet
- Laboratoire de Paléontologie, Évolution, Paléoécosystèmes et Paléoprimatologie (PALEVOPRIM), UMR 7262 CNRS & Université de Poitiers, Poitiers, France.
- University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
| | - Tanya Calvey
- Division of Clinical Anatomy and Biological Anthropology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
| | - Ameline Bardo
- UMR 7194, CNRS-MNHN, Département Homme et Environnement, Musée de l'Homme, Paris, France
- Skeletal Biology Research Centre, School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK
| | - Julien Benoit
- Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Christine J Charvet
- Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Pharmacology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA
| | - Colette Dehay
- University of Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Inserm, Stem Cell and Brain Research Institute U1208, F-69500, Bron, France
| | | | - Philipp Gunz
- Department of Human Origins, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Katja Heuer
- Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, Unité de Neuroanatomie Appliquée et Théorique, F-75015, Paris, France
| | | | - Shawn Hurst
- University of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN, USA
| | - Pascaline Lauters
- Institut royal des Sciences naturelles, Direction Opérationnelle Terre et Histoire de la Vie, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Denné Reed
- Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Mathilde Salagnon
- CNRS, CEA, IMN, GIN, UMR 5293, Université Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
- PACEA UMR 5199, CNRS, Université Bordeaux, Pessac, France
| | - Chet C Sherwood
- Department of Anthropology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Felix Ströckens
- C. & O. Vogt Institute for Brain Research, University Hospital Düsseldorf, Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Mirriam Tawane
- Ditsong National Museum of Natural History, Pretoria, South Africa
| | - Orlin S Todorov
- School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Roberto Toro
- Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, Unité de Neuroanatomie Appliquée et Théorique, F-75015, Paris, France
| | - Yongbin Wei
- Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing, China
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Rodríguez Arce JM, Winkelman MJ. Psychedelics, Sociality, and Human Evolution. Front Psychol 2021; 12:729425. [PMID: 34659037 PMCID: PMC8514078 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.729425] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2021] [Accepted: 09/06/2021] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Our hominin ancestors inevitably encountered and likely ingested psychedelic mushrooms throughout their evolutionary history. This assertion is supported by current understanding of: early hominins' paleodiet and paleoecology; primate phylogeny of mycophagical and self-medicative behaviors; and the biogeography of psilocybin-containing fungi. These lines of evidence indicate mushrooms (including bioactive species) have been a relevant resource since the Pliocene, when hominins intensified exploitation of forest floor foods. Psilocybin and similar psychedelics that primarily target the serotonin 2A receptor subtype stimulate an active coping strategy response that may provide an enhanced capacity for adaptive changes through a flexible and associative mode of cognition. Such psychedelics also alter emotional processing, self-regulation, and social behavior, often having enduring effects on individual and group well-being and sociality. A homeostatic and drug instrumentalization perspective suggests that incidental inclusion of psychedelics in the diet of hominins, and their eventual addition to rituals and institutions of early humans could have conferred selective advantages. Hominin evolution occurred in an ever-changing, and at times quickly changing, environmental landscape and entailed advancement into a socio-cognitive niche, i.e., the development of a socially interdependent lifeway based on reasoning, cooperative communication, and social learning. In this context, psychedelics' effects in enhancing sociality, imagination, eloquence, and suggestibility may have increased adaptability and fitness. We present interdisciplinary evidence for a model of psychedelic instrumentalization focused on four interrelated instrumentalization goals: management of psychological distress and treatment of health problems; enhanced social interaction and interpersonal relations; facilitation of collective ritual and religious activities; and enhanced group decision-making. The socio-cognitive niche was simultaneously a selection pressure and an adaptive response, and was partially constructed by hominins through their activities and their choices. Therefore, the evolutionary scenario put forward suggests that integration of psilocybin into ancient diet, communal practice, and proto-religious activity may have enhanced hominin response to the socio-cognitive niche, while also aiding in its creation. In particular, the interpersonal and prosocial effects of psilocybin may have mediated the expansion of social bonding mechanisms such as laughter, music, storytelling, and religion, imposing a systematic bias on the selective environment that favored selection for prosociality in our lineage.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Michael James Winkelman
- School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States
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Hirter KN, Miller EN, Stimpson CD, Phillips KA, Hopkins WD, Hof PR, Sherwood CC, Lovejoy CO, Raghanti MA. The nucleus accumbens and ventral pallidum exhibit greater dopaminergic innervation in humans compared to other primates. Brain Struct Funct 2021; 226:1909-1923. [PMID: 34032910 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-021-02300-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2020] [Accepted: 05/10/2021] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Recent evidence suggests that increased dopaminergic signaling within the dorsal striatum played a central role in the evolution of the human brain. This increase has been linked to human prosociality and language in what has been described as a dopamine-dominated striatum personality style. Increased striatal dopamine is associated with an increase in ventral striatal activity and promotes externally driven behaviors, including cooperation and social conformity. In contrast, decreased striatal dopamine is associated with increased dorsal striatal activity and favors internally driven and goal-oriented behaviors. Previous comparative studies have focused on the dorsal striatum, measuring dopaminergic innervation in the dorsal and medial caudate nucleus and putamen. Here, we add to this knowledge by examining regions of the ventral striatum. We quantified the density of tyrosine hydroxylase-immunoreactive axons, as a measure of dopaminergic innervation, in the nucleus accumbens and ventral pallidum of humans, great apes, platyrrhine and cercopithecid monkeys. Our data show that humans have a significantly greater dopaminergic innervation in both structures, supporting the hypothesis that selection for a prosocial neurochemistry in the human basal ganglia may have contributed to the evolution of our uniquely social behavior profile.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristen N Hirter
- Department of Anthropology and School of Biomedical Sciences, Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA. .,Brain Health Research Institute, Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA.
| | - Elaine N Miller
- Department of Anthropology and Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Cheryl D Stimpson
- Department of Anthropology and Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Kimberley A Phillips
- Department of Psychology, Trinity University, San Antonio, TX, USA.,Southwest National Primate Research Center, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio, TX, USA
| | - William D Hopkins
- Department of Comparative Medicine, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Bastrop, TX, USA
| | - Patrick R Hof
- Nash Family Department of Neuroscience and Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Chet C Sherwood
- Department of Anthropology and Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
| | - C Owen Lovejoy
- Department of Anthropology and School of Biomedical Sciences, Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA.,Brain Health Research Institute, Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA
| | - Mary Ann Raghanti
- Department of Anthropology and School of Biomedical Sciences, Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA. .,Brain Health Research Institute, Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA.
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