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Holden JM, Barbaro A, Azure K, Arth M. Acute MK-801 increases measures of both sign-tracking and goal-tracking in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 2024; 238:173740. [PMID: 38447709 DOI: 10.1016/j.pbb.2024.173740] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2023] [Revised: 02/09/2024] [Accepted: 02/29/2024] [Indexed: 03/08/2024]
Abstract
Sign-tracking is a Pavlovian conditioned approach behavior thought to be important in understanding cue-driven relapse to drug use, and strategies for reducing sign-tracking may have some benefit in preventing relapse. A previous study successfully employed the NMDA receptor antagonist MK-801 in preventing the development of sign-tracking (but not goal-tracking) in a conditioned approach task. In this study, we focused on whether MK-801 would have similar effects on previously established sign-tracking behavior. MK-801 was administered after training in a standard sign-/goal-tracking task using a retractable lever as a conditioned stimulus and a sucrose pellet as unconditioned stimulus. It was found that MK-801 increased measures of both sign- and goal-tracking in subjects who had previously learned the task. The NMDA receptor appears to play a complex role in governing behavior related to sign-tracking.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Kiya Azure
- Winona State University, United States of America.
| | - Megan Arth
- Winona State University, United States of America.
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2
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McDevitt DS, Wade QW, McKendrick GE, Nelsen J, Starostina M, Tran N, Blendy JA, Graziane NM. The Paraventricular Thalamic Nucleus and Its Projections in Regulating Reward and Context Associations. eNeuro 2024; 11:ENEURO.0524-23.2024. [PMID: 38351131 PMCID: PMC10883411 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0524-23.2024] [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: 12/11/2023] [Revised: 01/23/2024] [Accepted: 01/23/2024] [Indexed: 02/17/2024] Open
Abstract
The paraventricular thalamic nucleus (PVT) is a brain region that mediates aversive and reward-related behaviors as shown in animals exposed to fear conditioning, natural rewards, or drugs of abuse. However, it is unknown whether manipulations of the PVT, in the absence of external factors or stimuli (e.g., fear, natural rewards, or drugs of abuse), are sufficient to drive reward-related behaviors. Additionally, it is unknown whether drugs of abuse administered directly into the PVT are sufficient to drive reward-related behaviors. Here, using behavioral as well as pathway and cell-type specific approaches, we manipulate PVT activity as well as the PVT-to-nucleus accumbens shell (NAcSh) neurocircuit to explore reward phenotypes. First, we show that bath perfusion of morphine (10 µM) caused hyperpolarization of the resting membrane potential, increased rheobase, and decreased intrinsic membrane excitability in PVT neurons that project to the NAcSh. Additionally, we found that direct injections of morphine (50 ng) in the PVT of mice were sufficient to generate conditioned place preference (CPP) for the morphine-paired chamber. Mimicking the inhibitory effect of morphine, we employed a chemogenetic approach to inhibit PVT neurons that projected to the NAcSh and found that pairing the inhibition of these PVT neurons with a specific context evoked the acquisition of CPP. Lastly, using brain slice electrophysiology, we found that bath-perfused morphine (10 µM) significantly reduced PVT excitatory synaptic transmission on both dopamine D1 and D2 receptor-expressing medium spiny neurons in the NAcSh, but that inhibiting PVT afferents in the NAcSh was not sufficient to evoke CPP.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dillon S McDevitt
- Neuroscience Program, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania 17033
| | - Quinn W Wade
- Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania 17033
| | - Greer E McKendrick
- Neuroscience Program, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania 17033
| | - Jacob Nelsen
- Doctor of Medicine Program, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania 17033
| | - Mariya Starostina
- Doctor of Medicine Program, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania 17033
| | - Nam Tran
- Doctor of Medicine Program, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania 17033
| | - Julie A Blendy
- Department of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104
| | - Nicholas M Graziane
- Departments of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine and Pharmacology, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania 17033
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3
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Berridge KC. Separating desire from prediction of outcome value. Trends Cogn Sci 2023; 27:932-946. [PMID: 37543439 PMCID: PMC10527990 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2023.07.007] [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: 05/17/2022] [Revised: 07/10/2023] [Accepted: 07/14/2023] [Indexed: 08/07/2023]
Abstract
Individuals typically want what they expect to like, often based on memories of previous positive experiences. However, in some situations desire can decouple completely from memories and from learned predictions of outcome value. The potential for desire to separate from prediction arises from independent operating rules that control motivational incentive salience. Incentive salience, or 'wanting', is a type of mesolimbic desire that evolved for adaptive goals, but can also generate maladaptive addictions. Two proof-of-principle examples are presented here to show how motivational 'wanting' can soar above memory-based predictions of outcome value: (i) 'wanting what is remembered to be disgusting', and (ii) 'wanting what is predicted to hurt'. Consequently, even outcomes remembered and predicted to be negatively aversive can become positively 'wanted'. Similarly, in human addictions, people may experience powerful cue-triggered cravings for outcomes that are not predicted to be enjoyable.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kent C Berridge
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
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4
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Li L, Zhang H, Zheng Z, Ma N, Zhang Y, Liu Y, Zhang J, Su S, Zang W, Shao J, Cao J. Perioperative sleep deprivation activates the paraventricular thalamic nucleus resulting in persistent postoperative incisional pain in mice. Front Neuroanat 2022; 16:1074310. [PMID: 36620195 PMCID: PMC9813598 DOI: 10.3389/fnana.2022.1074310] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2022] [Accepted: 12/07/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The duration of postsurgical pain is closely correlated with perioperative stress. Most patients suffer short-term sleep disorder/deprivation before and/or after surgery, which leads to extended postsurgical pain by an undetermined mechanism. The paraventricular thalamus (PVT) is a critical area that contributes to the regulation of feeding, awakening, and emotional states. However, whether the middle PVT is involved in postoperative pain or the extension of postoperative pain caused by perioperative sleep deprivation has not yet been investigated. Methods We established a model of postoperative pain by plantar incision with perioperative rapid eye movement sleep deprivation (REMSD) 6 h/day for 3 consecutive days in mice. The excitability of the CaMKIIα+ neurons in the middle PVT (mPVTCaMKIIα) was detected by immunofluorescence and fiber photometry. The activation/inhibition of mPVTCaMKIIα neurons was conducted by chemogenetics. Results REMSD prolonged the duration of postsurgical pain and increased the excitability of mPVTCaMKIIα neurons. In addition, mPVTCaMKIIα neurons showed increased excitability in response to nociceptive stimuli or painful conditions. However, REMSD did not delay postsurgical pain recovery following the ablation of CaMKIIα neurons in the mPVT. The activation of mPVTCaMKIIα neurons prolonged the duration of postsurgical pain and elicited anxiety-like behaviors. In contrast, inhibition of mPVTCaMKIIα neurons reduced the postsurgical pain after REMSD. Conclusion Our data revealed that the CaMKIIα neurons in the mPVT are involved in the extension of the postsurgical pain duration induced by REMSD, and represented a novel potential target to treat postoperative pain induced by REMSD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lei Li
- Department of Anatomy, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan, China
| | - Huijie Zhang
- Department of Anatomy, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan, China
| | - Zhenli Zheng
- Department of Anatomy, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan, China,Department of Medical Record Management, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, China
| | - Nan Ma
- Department of Anatomy, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan, China
| | - Yidan Zhang
- Department of Anatomy, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan, China
| | - Yaping Liu
- Department of Anatomy, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan, China,Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Neuropsychiatric Diseases and Institute of Neuroscience, Soochow University, Suzhou, China
| | - Jingjing Zhang
- Department of Anatomy, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan, China
| | - Songxue Su
- Department of Anatomy, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan, China
| | - Weidong Zang
- Department of Anatomy, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan, China,Neuroscience Research Institute, Zhengzhou University Academy of Medical Sciences, Zhengzhou, Henan, China
| | - Jinping Shao
- Department of Anatomy, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan, China,Neuroscience Research Institute, Zhengzhou University Academy of Medical Sciences, Zhengzhou, Henan, China,*Correspondence: Jinping Shao,
| | - Jing Cao
- Department of Anatomy, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan, China,Neuroscience Research Institute, Zhengzhou University Academy of Medical Sciences, Zhengzhou, Henan, China,Jing Cao,
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5
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Garau C, Liu X, Calo G, Schulz S, Reinscheid RK. Neuropeptide S Encodes Stimulus Salience in the Paraventricular Thalamus. Neuroscience 2022; 496:83-95. [PMID: 35710064 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2022.06.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2022] [Revised: 05/05/2022] [Accepted: 06/07/2022] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
Evaluation of stimulus salience is critical for any higher organism, as it allows for prioritizing of vital information, preparation of responses, and formation of valuable memory. The paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) has recently been identified as an integrator of stimulus salience but the neurochemical basis and afferent input regarding salience signaling have remained elusive. Here we report that neuropeptide S (NPS) signaling in the PVT is necessary for stimulus salience encoding, including aversive, neutral and reinforcing sensory input. Taking advantage of a striking deficit of both NPS receptor (NPSR1) and NPS precursor knockout mice in fear extinction or novel object memory formation, we demonstrate that intra-PVT injections of NPS can rescue the phenotype in NPS precursor knockout mice by increasing the salience of otherwise low-intensity stimuli, while intra-PVT injections of NPSR1 antagonist in wild type mice partially replicates the knockout phenotype. The PVT appears to provide stimulus salience encoding in a dose- and NPS-dependent manner. PVT NPSR1 neurons recruit the nucleus accumbens shell and structures in the prefrontal cortex and amygdala, which were previously linked to the brain salience network. Overall, these results demonstrate that stimulus salience encoding is critically associated with NPS activity in the PVT.
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Affiliation(s)
- Celia Garau
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA 92617, USA
| | - Xiaobin Liu
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA 92617, USA
| | - Girolamo' Calo
- Department of Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences, University of Padova, Italy
| | - Stefan Schulz
- Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Friedrich-Schiller University, Jena, Germany
| | - Rainer K Reinscheid
- Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Friedrich-Schiller University, Jena, Germany.
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6
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Michael Holden J, Salem A. Dextromethorphan Reduces Sign-Tracking but Not Goal-Tracking in Male Sprague-Dawley Rats. Neurobiol Learn Mem 2022; 192:107635. [PMID: 35595027 DOI: 10.1016/j.nlm.2022.107635] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2022] [Revised: 05/11/2022] [Accepted: 05/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Sign-tracking is a well-known phenomenon in appetitive Pavlovian conditioning in which subjects approach the site of a conditioned stimulus (CS) associated with an appetitive unconditioned stimulus (US) even when the two are located separately. Control of sign-tracking may be important in rehabilitation from drug dependence to help ward off relapse. Recent studies have found success in using ketamine to reduce sign-tracking. In this study, we employed a similar but unscheduled drug, dextromethorphan (DXM), which affects many of the same molecular targets as ketamine, in an attempt to reduce sign-tracking in a standard paradigm. DXM was found to reduce sign-tracking at the doses examined in this study, while goal-tracking (approaching the site of the US rather than CS) was relatively unaffected. DXM offers advantages over ketamine in terms of use with patients and may have some utility in rehabilitation.
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7
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Kuhn BN, Campus P, Klumpner MS, Chang SE, Iglesias AG, Flagel SB. Inhibition of a cortico-thalamic circuit attenuates cue-induced reinstatement of drug-seeking behavior in "relapse prone" male rats. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2022; 239:1035-1051. [PMID: 34181035 DOI: 10.1007/s00213-021-05894-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2021] [Accepted: 06/04/2021] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
RATIONALE Relapse often occurs when individuals are exposed to stimuli or cues previously associated with the drug-taking experience. The ability of drug cues to trigger relapse is believed to be a consequence of incentive salience attribution, a process by which the incentive value of reward is transferred to the reward-paired cue. Sign-tracker (ST) rats that attribute enhanced incentive value to reward cues are more prone to relapse compared to goal-tracker (GT) rats that primarily attribute predictive value to such cues. OBJECTIVES The neurobiological mechanisms underlying this individual variation in relapse propensity remains largely unexplored. The paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) has been identified as a critical node in the regulation of cue-elicited behaviors in STs and GTs, including cue-induced reinstatement of drug-seeking behavior. Here we used a chemogenetic approach to assess whether "top-down" cortical input from the prelimbic cortex (PrL) to the PVT plays a role in mediating individual differences in relapse propensity. RESULTS Chemogenetic inhibition of the PrL-PVT pathway selectively decreased cue-induced reinstatement of drug-seeking behavior in STs, without affecting behavior in GTs. In contrast, cocaine-primed drug-seeking behavior was not affected in either phenotype. Furthermore, when rats were characterized based on a different behavioral phenotype-locomotor response to novelty-inhibition of the PrL-PVT pathway had no effect on either cue- or drug-induced reinstatement. CONCLUSIONS These results highlight an important role for the PrL-PVT pathway in vulnerability to relapse that is consequent to individual differences in the propensity to attribute incentive salience to discrete reward cues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brittany N Kuhn
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Michigan, 4137 Undergraduate Science Building, 204 Washtenaw Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA
| | - Paolo Campus
- Michigan Neuroscience Institute, University of Michigan, 205 Zina Pitcher Place, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA
| | - Marin S Klumpner
- Michigan Neuroscience Institute, University of Michigan, 205 Zina Pitcher Place, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA
| | - Stephen E Chang
- Michigan Neuroscience Institute, University of Michigan, 205 Zina Pitcher Place, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA
| | - Amanda G Iglesias
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Michigan, 4137 Undergraduate Science Building, 204 Washtenaw Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA
| | - Shelly B Flagel
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Michigan, 4137 Undergraduate Science Building, 204 Washtenaw Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.
- Michigan Neuroscience Institute, University of Michigan, 205 Zina Pitcher Place, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, 4250 Plymouth Road, Ann Arbor, MI, 48105, USA.
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8
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De Groote A, de Kerchove d'Exaerde A. Thalamo-Nucleus Accumbens Projections in Motivated Behaviors and Addiction. Front Syst Neurosci 2021; 15:711350. [PMID: 34335197 PMCID: PMC8322971 DOI: 10.3389/fnsys.2021.711350] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2021] [Accepted: 06/22/2021] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
The ventral striatum, also called nucleus accumbens (NAc), has long been known to integrate information from cortical, thalamic, midbrain and limbic nuclei to mediate goal-directed behaviors. Until recently thalamic afferents have been overlooked when studying the functions and connectivity of the NAc. However, findings from recent studies have shed light on the importance and roles of precise Thalamus to NAc connections in motivated behaviors and in addiction. In this review, we summarize studies using techniques such as chemo- and optogenetics, electrophysiology and in vivo calcium imaging to elucidate the complex functioning of the thalamo-NAc afferents, with a particular highlight on the projections from the Paraventricular Thalamus (PVT) to the NAc. We will focus on the recent advances in the understanding of the roles of these neuronal connections in motivated behaviors, with a special emphasis on their implications in addiction, from cue-reward association to the mechanisms driving relapse.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aurélie De Groote
- Laboratory of Neurophysiology, ULB Neuroscience Institute, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium
| | - Alban de Kerchove d'Exaerde
- Laboratory of Neurophysiology, ULB Neuroscience Institute, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium
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9
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Iglesias AG, Flagel SB. The Paraventricular Thalamus as a Critical Node of Motivated Behavior via the Hypothalamic-Thalamic-Striatal Circuit. Front Integr Neurosci 2021; 15:706713. [PMID: 34220458 PMCID: PMC8250420 DOI: 10.3389/fnint.2021.706713] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2021] [Accepted: 05/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
In this review, we highlight evidence that supports a role for the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) in motivated behavior. We include a neuroanatomical and neurochemical overview, outlining what is known of the cellular makeup of the region and its most prominent afferent and efferent connections. We discuss how these connections and distinctions across the anterior-posterior axis correspond to the perceived function of the PVT. We then focus on the hypothalamic-thalamic-striatal circuit and the neuroanatomical and functional placement of the PVT within this circuit. In this regard, the PVT is ideally positioned to integrate information regarding internal states and the external environment and translate it into motivated actions. Based on data that has emerged in recent years, including that from our laboratory, we posit that orexinergic (OX) innervation from the lateral hypothalamus (LH) to the PVT encodes the incentive motivational value of reward cues and thereby alters the signaling of the glutamatergic neurons projecting from the PVT to the shell of the nucleus accumbens (NAcSh). The PVT-NAcSh pathway then modulates dopamine activity and resultant cue-motivated behaviors. As we and others apply novel tools and approaches to studying the PVT we will continue to refine the anatomical, cellular, and functional definitions currently ascribed to this nucleus and further elucidate its role in motivated behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amanda G. Iglesias
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
| | - Shelly B. Flagel
- Michigan Neuroscience Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
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10
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Engelke DS, Zhang XO, O'Malley JJ, Fernandez-Leon JA, Li S, Kirouac GJ, Beierlein M, Do-Monte FH. A hypothalamic-thalamostriatal circuit that controls approach-avoidance conflict in rats. Nat Commun 2021; 12:2517. [PMID: 33947849 PMCID: PMC8097010 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-22730-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2020] [Accepted: 03/27/2021] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Survival depends on a balance between seeking rewards and avoiding potential threats, but the neural circuits that regulate this motivational conflict remain largely unknown. Using an approach-food vs. avoid-predator threat conflict test in rats, we identified a subpopulation of neurons in the anterior portion of the paraventricular thalamic nucleus (aPVT) which express corticotrophin-releasing factor (CRF) and are preferentially recruited during conflict. Inactivation of aPVTCRF neurons during conflict biases animal's response toward food, whereas activation of these cells recapitulates the food-seeking suppression observed during conflict. aPVTCRF neurons project densely to the nucleus accumbens (NAc), and activity in this pathway reduces food seeking and increases avoidance. In addition, we identified the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) as a critical input to aPVTCRF neurons, and demonstrated that VMH-aPVT neurons mediate defensive behaviors exclusively during conflict. Together, our findings describe a hypothalamic-thalamostriatal circuit that suppresses reward-seeking behavior under the competing demands of avoiding threats.
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Affiliation(s)
- D S Engelke
- Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, TX, USA
| | - X O Zhang
- Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, TX, USA
| | - J J O'Malley
- Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, TX, USA
| | - J A Fernandez-Leon
- Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, TX, USA
| | - S Li
- Department of Oral Biol., University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
| | - G J Kirouac
- Department of Oral Biol., University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
| | - M Beierlein
- Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, TX, USA
| | - F H Do-Monte
- Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, TX, USA.
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11
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Spring MG, Soni KR, Wheeler DS, Wheeler RA. Prelimbic prefrontal cortical encoding of reward predictive cues. Synapse 2021; 75:e22202. [PMID: 33894070 DOI: 10.1002/syn.22202] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2021] [Accepted: 04/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Animals appoint incentive value and learn to approach otherwise behaviorally inert stimuli if these stimuli come to predict the delivery of reward. Interestingly, this adaptive Pavlovian learning process has been implicated in behavioral control disorders, such as drug addiction. One brain region implicated in directing conditioned approach behavior is the prelimbic region of the prefrontal cortex. The present study employed in vivo electrophysiology in the prelimbic cortex to characterize the distribution of neural responses to the presence of a cue that had acquired incentive value after being associated with a primary reward. Male rats were trained in a Pavlovian autoshaping task in which a lever was presented prior to reward delivery. Following repeated pairings of lever availability and reward delivery, rats pressed the lever even though reward delivery was not contingent on any interaction with the lever. Neurons in the prelimbic cortex selectively encoded the presentation of the reward-predicting lever. Although the response was heterogeneous, most responsive neurons decreased their firing rate in response to the presence of the lever. These findings characterize the varied responses of prelimbic cortical neurons to reward cues and are consistent with evidence that the role of the prelimbic cortex in reward learning depends on the downstream target.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mitchell G Spring
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, USA
| | - Karan R Soni
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, USA
| | - Daniel S Wheeler
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, USA
| | - Robert A Wheeler
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, USA
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12
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Petrovich GD. The Function of Paraventricular Thalamic Circuitry in Adaptive Control of Feeding Behavior. Front Behav Neurosci 2021; 15:671096. [PMID: 33986649 PMCID: PMC8110711 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2021.671096] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2021] [Accepted: 03/25/2021] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
The paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) is a complex area that is uniquely embedded across the core feeding, reward, arousal, and stress circuits. The PVT role in the control of feeding behavior is discussed here within a framework of adaptive behavioral guidance based on the body’s energy state and competing drives. The survival of an organism depends on bodily energy resources and promotion of feeding over other behaviors is adaptive except when in danger or sated. The PVT is structurally set up to respond to homeostatic and hedonic needs to feed, and to integrate those signals with physiological and environmental stress, as well as anticipatory needs and other cognitive inputs. It can regulate both food foraging (seeking) and consumption and may balance their expression. The PVT is proposed to accomplish these functions through a network of connections with the brainstem, hypothalamic, striatal, and cortical areas. The connectivity of the PVT further indicates that it could broadcast the information about energy use/gain and behavioral choice to impact cognitive processes—learning, memory, and decision-making—through connections with the medial and lateral prefrontal cortical areas, the hippocampal formation, and the amygdala. The PVT is structurally complex and recent evidence for specific PVT pathways in different aspects of feeding behavior will be discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gorica D Petrovich
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, United States
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13
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Mair RG, Francoeur MJ, Gibson BM. Central Thalamic-Medial Prefrontal Control of Adaptive Responding in the Rat: Many Players in the Chamber. Front Behav Neurosci 2021; 15:642204. [PMID: 33897387 PMCID: PMC8060444 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2021.642204] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2020] [Accepted: 03/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) has robust afferent and efferent connections with multiple nuclei clustered in the central thalamus. These nuclei are elements in large-scale networks linking mPFC with the hippocampus, basal ganglia, amygdala, other cortical areas, and visceral and arousal systems in the brainstem that give rise to adaptive goal-directed behavior. Lesions of the mediodorsal nucleus (MD), the main source of thalamic input to middle layers of PFC, have limited effects on delayed conditional discriminations, like DMTP and DNMTP, that depend on mPFC. Recent evidence suggests that MD sustains and amplifies neuronal responses in mPFC that represent salient task-related information and is important for detecting and encoding contingencies between actions and their consequences. Lesions of rostral intralaminar (rIL) and ventromedial (VM) nuclei produce delay-independent impairments of egocentric DMTP and DNMTP that resemble effects of mPFC lesions on response speed and accuracy: results consistent with projections of rIL to striatum and VM to motor cortices. The ventral midline and anterior thalamic nuclei affect allocentric spatial cognition and memory consistent with their connections to mPFC and hippocampus. The dorsal midline nuclei spare DMTP and DNMTP. They have been implicated in behavioral-state control and response to salient stimuli in associative learning. mPFC functions are served during DNMTP by discrete populations of neurons with responses related to motor preparation, movements, lever press responses, reinforcement anticipation, reinforcement delivery, and memory delay. Population analyses show that different responses are timed so that they effectively tile the temporal interval from when DNMTP trials are initiated until the end. Event-related responses of MD neurons during DNMTP are predominantly related to movement and reinforcement, information important for DNMTP choice. These responses closely mirror the activity of mPFC neurons with similar responses. Pharmacological inactivation of MD and adjacent rIL affects the expression of diverse action- and outcome-related responses of mPFC neurons. Lesions of MD before training are associated with a shift away from movement-related responses in mPFC important for DNMTP choice. These results suggest that MD has short-term effects on the expression of event-related activity in mPFC and long-term effects that tune mPFC neurons to respond to task-specific information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert G Mair
- Department of Psychology, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, United States
| | - Miranda J Francoeur
- Department of Psychology, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, United States.,Neural Engineering and Translation Lab, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, United States
| | - Brett M Gibson
- Department of Psychology, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, United States
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14
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Motivational competition and the paraventricular thalamus. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2021; 125:193-207. [PMID: 33609570 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.02.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2019] [Revised: 07/16/2020] [Accepted: 02/13/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Although significant progress has been made in understanding the behavioral and brain mechanisms for motivational systems, much less is known about competition between motivational states or motivational conflict (e.g., approach - avoidance conflict). Despite being produced under diverse conditions, behavior during motivational competition has two signatures: bistability and metastability. These signatures reveal the operation of positive feedback mechanisms in behavioral selection. Different neuronal architectures can instantiate this selection to achieve bistability and metastability in behavior, but each relies on circuit-level inhibition to achieve rapid and stable selection between competing tendencies. Paraventricular thalamus (PVT) is identified as critical to this circuit level inhibition, resolving motivational competition via its extensive projections to local inhibitory networks in the ventral striatum and extended amygdala, enabling adaptive responding under motivational conflict.
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15
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Wolff M, Morceau S, Folkard R, Martin-Cortecero J, Groh A. A thalamic bridge from sensory perception to cognition. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2021; 120:222-235. [PMID: 33246018 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.11.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2020] [Revised: 10/07/2020] [Accepted: 11/02/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
The ability to adapt to dynamic environments requires tracking multiple signals with variable sensory salience and fluctuating behavioral relevance. This complex process requires integrative crosstalk between sensory and cognitive brain circuits. Functional interactions between cortical and thalamic regions are now considered essential for both sensory perception and cognition but a clear account of the functional link between sensory and cognitive circuits is currently lacking. This review aims to document how thalamic nuclei may effectively act as a bridge allowing to fuse perceptual and cognitive events into meaningful experiences. After highlighting key aspects of thalamocortical circuits such as the classic first-order/higher-order dichotomy, we consider the role of the thalamic reticular nucleus from directed attention to cognition. We next summarize research relying on Pavlovian learning paradigms, showing that both first-order and higher-order thalamic nuclei contribute to associative learning. Finally, we propose that modulator inputs reaching all thalamic nuclei may be critical for integrative purposes when environmental signals are computed. Altogether, the thalamus appears as the bridge linking perception, cognition and possibly affect.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Wolff
- CNRS, INCIA, UMR 5287, Bordeaux, France; University of Bordeaux, INCIA, UMR 5287, Bordeaux, France.
| | - S Morceau
- CNRS, INCIA, UMR 5287, Bordeaux, France; University of Bordeaux, INCIA, UMR 5287, Bordeaux, France
| | - R Folkard
- Institute of Physiology and Pathophysiology, Medical Biophysics, Heidelberg University, INF 326, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - J Martin-Cortecero
- Institute of Physiology and Pathophysiology, Medical Biophysics, Heidelberg University, INF 326, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - A Groh
- Institute of Physiology and Pathophysiology, Medical Biophysics, Heidelberg University, INF 326, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany
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16
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Alonso-Caraballo Y, Guha SK, Chartoff EH. The neurobiology of abstinence-induced reward-seeking in males and females. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 2020; 200:173088. [PMID: 33333134 DOI: 10.1016/j.pbb.2020.173088] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2020] [Revised: 11/22/2020] [Accepted: 12/01/2020] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Drugs of abuse and highly palatable foods (e.g. high fat or sweet foods) have powerful reinforcing effects, which can lead to compulsive and addictive drives to ingest these substances to the point of psychopathology and self-harm--specifically the development of Substance Use Disorder (SUD) and obesity. Both SUD and binge-like overeating can be defined as disorders in which the salience of the reward (food or drug) becomes exaggerated relative to, and at the expense of, other rewards that promote well-being. A major roadblock in the treatment of these disorders is high rates of relapse after periods of abstinence. It is common, although not universal, for cue-induced craving to increase over time with abstinence, often triggered by cues previously paired with the reinforcing substance. Accumulating evidence suggests that similar neural circuits and cellular mechanisms contribute to abstinence-induced and cue-triggered seeking of drugs and palatable food. Although much research has focused on the important role of corticolimbic circuitry in drug-seeking, our goal is to expand focus to the more recently explored hypothalamic-thalamic-striatal circuitry. Specifically, we review how connections, and neurotransmitters therein, among the lateral hypothalamus, paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus, and the nucleus accumbens contribute to abstinence-induced opioid- and (high fat or sweet) food-seeking. Given that biological sex and gonadal hormones have been implicated in addictive behavior across species, another layer to this review is to compare behaviors and neural circuit-based mechanisms of abstinence-induced opioid- or food-seeking between males and females when such data is available.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Suman K Guha
- Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA.
| | - Elena H Chartoff
- Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA.
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17
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Wright WJ, Dong Y. Psychostimulant-Induced Adaptations in Nucleus Accumbens Glutamatergic Transmission. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med 2020; 10:cshperspect.a039255. [PMID: 31964644 DOI: 10.1101/cshperspect.a039255] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
Carrying different aspects of emotional and motivational signals, glutamatergic synaptic projections from multiple limbic and paralimbic brain regions converge to the nucleus accumbens (NAc), in which these arousing signals are processed and prioritized for behavioral output. In animal models of drug addiction, some key drug-induced alterations at NAc glutamatergic synapses underlie important cellular and circuit mechanisms that promote subsequent drug taking, seeking, and relapse. With the focus of cocaine, we review changes at NAc glutamatergic synapses that occur after different drug procedures and abstinence durations, and the behavioral impact of these changes.
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Affiliation(s)
- William J Wright
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, USA
| | - Yan Dong
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, USA
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18
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The lateral hypothalamus and orexinergic transmission in the paraventricular thalamus promote the attribution of incentive salience to reward-associated cues. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2020; 237:3741-3758. [PMID: 32852601 PMCID: PMC7960144 DOI: 10.1007/s00213-020-05651-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2020] [Accepted: 08/20/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
RATIONALE Prior research suggests that the neural pathway from the lateral hypothalamic area (LHA) to the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) mediates the attribution of incentive salience to Pavlovian reward cues. However, a causal role for the LHA and the neurotransmitters involved have not been demonstrated in this regard. OBJECTIVES To examine (1) the role of LHA in the acquisition of Pavlovian conditioned approach (PavCA) behaviors, and (2) the role of PVT orexin 1 receptors (OX1r) and orexin 2 receptors (OX2r) in the expression of PavCA behaviors and conditioned reinforcement. METHODS Rats received excitotoxic lesions of the LHA prior to Pavlovian training. A separate cohort of rats characterized as sign-trackers (STs) or goal-trackers (GTs) received the OX1r antagonist SB-334867, or the OX2r antagonist TCS-OX2-29, into the PVT, to assess their effects on the expression of PavCA behavior and on the conditioned reinforcing properties of a Pavlovian reward cue. RESULTS LHA lesions attenuated the development of sign-tracking behavior. Administration of either the OX1r or OX2r antagonist into the PVT reduced sign-tracking behavior in STs. Further, OX2r antagonism reduced the conditioned reinforcing properties of a Pavlovian reward cue in STs. CONCLUSIONS The LHA is necessary for the development of sign-tracking behavior; and blockade of orexin signaling in the PVT attenuates the expression of sign-tracking behavior and the conditioned reinforcing properties of a Pavlovian reward cue. Together, these data suggest that LHA orexin inputs to the PVT are a key component of the circuitry that encodes the incentive motivational value of reward cues.
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19
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Mollick JA, Hazy TE, Krueger KA, Nair A, Mackie P, Herd SA, O'Reilly RC. A systems-neuroscience model of phasic dopamine. Psychol Rev 2020; 127:972-1021. [PMID: 32525345 PMCID: PMC8453660 DOI: 10.1037/rev0000199] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
We describe a neurobiologically informed computational model of phasic dopamine signaling to account for a wide range of findings, including many considered inconsistent with the simple reward prediction error (RPE) formalism. The central feature of this PVLV framework is a distinction between a primary value (PV) system for anticipating primary rewards (Unconditioned Stimuli [USs]), and a learned value (LV) system for learning about stimuli associated with such rewards (CSs). The LV system represents the amygdala, which drives phasic bursting in midbrain dopamine areas, while the PV system represents the ventral striatum, which drives shunting inhibition of dopamine for expected USs (via direct inhibitory projections) and phasic pausing for expected USs (via the lateral habenula). Our model accounts for data supporting the separability of these systems, including individual differences in CS-based (sign-tracking) versus US-based learning (goal-tracking). Both systems use competing opponent-processing pathways representing evidence for and against specific USs, which can explain data dissociating the processes involved in acquisition versus extinction conditioning. Further, opponent processing proved critical in accounting for the full range of conditioned inhibition phenomena, and the closely related paradigm of second-order conditioning. Finally, we show how additional separable pathways representing aversive USs, largely mirroring those for appetitive USs, also have important differences from the positive valence case, allowing the model to account for several important phenomena in aversive conditioning. Overall, accounting for all of these phenomena strongly constrains the model, thus providing a well-validated framework for understanding phasic dopamine signaling. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica A Mollick
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder
| | - Thomas E Hazy
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder
| | - Kai A Krueger
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder
| | - Ananta Nair
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder
| | - Prescott Mackie
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder
| | - Seth A Herd
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder
| | - Randall C O'Reilly
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder
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20
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McGinty JF, Otis JM. Heterogeneity in the Paraventricular Thalamus: The Traffic Light of Motivated Behaviors. Front Behav Neurosci 2020; 14:590528. [PMID: 33177999 PMCID: PMC7596164 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2020.590528] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2020] [Accepted: 09/09/2020] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
The paraventricular thalamic nucleus (PVT) is highly interconnected with brain areas that control reward-seeking behavior. Despite this known connectivity, broad manipulations of PVT often lead to mixed, and even opposing, behavioral effects, clouding our understanding of how PVT precisely contributes to reward processing. Although the function of PVT in influencing reward-seeking is poorly understood, recent studies show that forebrain and hypothalamic inputs to, and nucleus accumbens (NAc) and amygdalar outputs from, PVT are strongly implicated in PVT responses to conditioned and appetitive or aversive stimuli that determine whether an animal will approach or avoid specific rewards. These studies, which have used an array of chemogenetic, optogenetic, and calcium imaging technologies, have shown that activity in PVT input and output circuits is highly heterogeneous, with mixed activity patterns that contribute to behavior in highly distinct manners. Thus, it is important to perform experiments in precisely defined cell types to elucidate how the PVT network contributes to reward-seeking behaviors. In this review, we describe the complex heterogeneity within PVT circuitry that appears to influence the decision to seek or avoid a reward and point out gaps in our understanding that should be investigated in future studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacqueline F. McGinty
- Department of Neuroscience, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, United States
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21
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Colaizzi JM, Flagel SB, Joyner MA, Gearhardt AN, Stewart JL, Paulus MP. Mapping sign-tracking and goal-tracking onto human behaviors. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2020; 111:84-94. [PMID: 31972203 PMCID: PMC8087151 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.01.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2019] [Revised: 01/16/2020] [Accepted: 01/18/2020] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
As evidenced through classic Pavlovian learning mechanisms, environmental cues can become incentivized and influence behavior. These stimulus-outcome associations are relevant in everyday life but may be particularly important for the development of impulse control disorders including addiction. Rodent studies have elucidated specific learning profiles termed 'sign-tracking' and 'goal-tracking' which map onto individual differences in impulsivity and other behaviors associated with impulse control disorders' etiology, course, and relapse. Whereas goal-trackers are biased toward the outcome, sign-trackers fixate on features that are associated with but not necessary for achieving an outcome; a pattern of behavior that often leads to escalation of reward-seeking that can be maladaptive. The vast majority of the sign- and goal-tracking research has been conducted using rodent models and very few have bridged this concept into the domain of human behavior. In this review, we discuss the attributes of sign- and goal-tracking profiles, how these are manifested neurobiologically, and how these distinct learning styles could be an important tool for clinical interventions in human addiction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Janna M Colaizzi
- Laureate Institute for Brain Research, 6655 S Yale Ave, Tulsa, OK, USA.
| | - Shelly B Flagel
- University of Michigan Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Institute, 205 Zina Pitcher Pl, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA
| | - Michelle A Joyner
- University of Michigan, Department of Psychology, 530 Church St, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA
| | - Ashley N Gearhardt
- University of Michigan, Department of Psychology, 530 Church St, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA
| | | | - Martin P Paulus
- Laureate Institute for Brain Research, 6655 S Yale Ave, Tulsa, OK, USA
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22
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Chisholm A, Iannuzzi J, Rizzo D, Gonzalez N, Fortin É, Bumbu A, Batallán Burrowes AA, Chapman CA, Shalev U. The role of the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus in the augmentation of heroin seeking induced by chronic food restriction. Addict Biol 2020; 25:e12708. [PMID: 30623532 DOI: 10.1111/adb.12708] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2018] [Revised: 11/26/2018] [Accepted: 11/27/2018] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
Drug addiction is a chronic disorder that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and involves cycling between periods of compulsive drug use, abstinence, and relapse. In both human addicts and animal models of addiction, chronic food restriction has been shown to increase rates of relapse. Previously, our laboratory has demonstrated a robust increase in drug seeking following a period of withdrawal in chronically food-restricted rats compared with sated rats. To date, the neural mechanisms that mediate the effect of chronic food restriction on drug seeking have not been elucidated. However, the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) appears to be a promising target to investigate. The objective of the current study was to examine the role of the PVT in the augmentation of heroin seeking induced by chronic food restriction. Male Long-Evans rats were trained to self-administer heroin for 10 days. Rats were then removed from the training chambers and experienced a 14-day withdrawal period with either unrestricted (sated) or mildly restricted (FDR) access to food. On day 14, rats underwent a 1-hour heroin-seeking test under extinction conditions, during which neural activity in the PVT was either inhibited or increased using pharmacological or chemogenetic approaches. Unexpectedly, inhibition of the PVT did not alter heroin seeking in food-restricted or sated rats, while enhancing neural activity in the PVT-attenuated heroin seeking in food-restricted rats. These results indicate that PVT activity can modulate heroin seeking induced by chronic food restriction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandra Chisholm
- Department of Psychology, Center for Studies in Behavioral Neurobiology/Groupe de Recherche en Neurobiologie ComportementaleConcordia University Montreal Canada
| | - Jessica Iannuzzi
- Department of Psychology, Center for Studies in Behavioral Neurobiology/Groupe de Recherche en Neurobiologie ComportementaleConcordia University Montreal Canada
| | - Damaris Rizzo
- Department of Psychology, Center for Studies in Behavioral Neurobiology/Groupe de Recherche en Neurobiologie ComportementaleConcordia University Montreal Canada
| | - Natasha Gonzalez
- Department of Psychology, Center for Studies in Behavioral Neurobiology/Groupe de Recherche en Neurobiologie ComportementaleConcordia University Montreal Canada
| | - Émilie Fortin
- Department of Psychology, Center for Studies in Behavioral Neurobiology/Groupe de Recherche en Neurobiologie ComportementaleConcordia University Montreal Canada
| | - Alexandra Bumbu
- Department of Psychology, Center for Studies in Behavioral Neurobiology/Groupe de Recherche en Neurobiologie ComportementaleConcordia University Montreal Canada
| | - Ariel A. Batallán Burrowes
- Department of Psychology, Center for Studies in Behavioral Neurobiology/Groupe de Recherche en Neurobiologie ComportementaleConcordia University Montreal Canada
| | - C. Andrew Chapman
- Department of Psychology, Center for Studies in Behavioral Neurobiology/Groupe de Recherche en Neurobiologie ComportementaleConcordia University Montreal Canada
| | - Uri Shalev
- Department of Psychology, Center for Studies in Behavioral Neurobiology/Groupe de Recherche en Neurobiologie ComportementaleConcordia University Montreal Canada
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Timing of Morphine Administration Differentially Alters Paraventricular Thalamic Neuron Activity. eNeuro 2019; 6:ENEURO.0377-19.2019. [PMID: 31801741 PMCID: PMC6920517 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0377-19.2019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2019] [Revised: 11/21/2019] [Accepted: 11/26/2019] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
The paraventricular thalamic nucleus (PVT) is a brain region involved in regulating arousal, goal-oriented behaviors, and drug seeking, all key factors playing a role in substance use disorder. Given this, we investigated the temporal effects of administering morphine, an opioid with strongly addictive properties, on PVT neuronal function in mice using acute brain slices. Here, we show that morphine administration and electrophysiological recordings that occur during periods of animal inactivity (light cycle) elicit increases in PVT neuronal function during a 24-h abstinence time point. Furthermore, we show that morphine-induced increases in PVT neuronal activity at 24-h abstinence are occluded when morphine administration and recordings are performed during an animals' active state (dark cycle). Based on our electrophysiological results combined with previous findings demonstrating that PVT neuronal activity regulates drug-seeking behaviors, we investigated whether timing morphine administration with periods of vigilance (dark cycle) would decrease drug-seeking behaviors in an animal model of substance use disorder. We found that context-induced morphine-seeking behaviors were intact regardless of the time morphine was administered (e.g., light cycle or dark cycle). Our electrophysiological results suggest that timing morphine with various states of arousal may impact the firing of PVT neurons during abstinence. Although, this may not impact context-induced drug-seeking behaviors.
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24
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Ahrens AM, Ahmed OJ. Neural circuits linking sleep and addiction: Animal models to understand why select individuals are more vulnerable to substance use disorders after sleep deprivation. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2019; 108:435-444. [PMID: 31756346 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.11.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2019] [Revised: 10/26/2019] [Accepted: 11/12/2019] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Individuals differ widely in their drug-craving behaviors. One reason for these differences involves sleep. Sleep disturbances lead to an increased risk of substance use disorders and relapse in only some individuals. While animal studies have examined the impact of sleep on reward circuitry, few have addressed the role of individual differences in the effects of altered sleep. There does, however, exist a rodent model of individual differences in reward-seeking behavior: the sign/goal-tracker model of Pavlovian conditioned approach. In this model, only some rats show the key behavioral traits associated with addiction, including impulsivity and poor attentional control, making this an ideal model system to examine individually distinct sleep-reward interactions. Here, we describe how the limbic neural circuits responsible for individual differences in incentive motivation overlap with those involved in sleep-wake regulation, and how this model can elucidate the common underlying mechanisms. Consideration of individual differences in preclinical models would improve our understanding of how sleep interacts with motivational systems, and why sleep deprivation contributes to addiction in only select individuals.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Omar J Ahmed
- Dept. of Psychology, United States; Neuroscience Graduate Program, United States; Michigan Center for Integrative Research in Critical Care, United States; Kresge Hearing Research Institute, United States; Dept. of Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, United States.
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25
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Campus P, Covelo IR, Kim Y, Parsegian A, Kuhn BN, Lopez SA, Neumaier JF, Ferguson SM, Solberg Woods LC, Sarter M, Flagel SB. The paraventricular thalamus is a critical mediator of top-down control of cue-motivated behavior in rats. eLife 2019; 8:e49041. [PMID: 31502538 PMCID: PMC6739869 DOI: 10.7554/elife.49041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2019] [Accepted: 08/15/2019] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Cues in the environment can elicit complex emotional states, and thereby maladaptive behavior, as a function of their ascribed value. Here we capture individual variation in the propensity to attribute motivational value to reward-cues using the sign-tracker/goal-tracker animal model. Goal-trackers attribute predictive value to reward-cues, and sign-trackers attribute both predictive and incentive value. Using chemogenetics and microdialysis, we show that, in sign-trackers, stimulation of the neuronal pathway from the prelimbic cortex (PrL) to the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) decreases the incentive value of a reward-cue. In contrast, in goal-trackers, inhibition of the PrL-PVT pathway increases both the incentive value and dopamine levels in the nucleus accumbens shell. The PrL-PVT pathway, therefore, exerts top-down control over the dopamine-dependent process of incentive salience attribution. These results highlight PrL-PVT pathway as a potential target for treating psychopathologies associated with the attribution of excessive incentive value to reward-cues, including addiction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paolo Campus
- Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience InstituteUniversity of MichiganAnn ArborUnited States
| | - Ignacio R Covelo
- Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience InstituteUniversity of MichiganAnn ArborUnited States
| | - Youngsoo Kim
- Department of PsychologyUniversity of MichiganAnn ArborUnited States
| | - Aram Parsegian
- Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience InstituteUniversity of MichiganAnn ArborUnited States
| | - Brittany N Kuhn
- Neuroscience Graduate ProgramUniversity of MichiganAnn ArborUnited States
| | - Sofia A Lopez
- Neuroscience Graduate ProgramUniversity of MichiganAnn ArborUnited States
| | - John F Neumaier
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral SciencesUniversity of WashingtonSeattleUnited States
| | - Susan M Ferguson
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral SciencesUniversity of WashingtonSeattleUnited States
| | - Leah C Solberg Woods
- Department of Internal Medicine, Section on Molecular MedicineWake Forest School of MedicineWinston-SalemUnited States
| | - Martin Sarter
- Department of PsychologyUniversity of MichiganAnn ArborUnited States
- Neuroscience Graduate ProgramUniversity of MichiganAnn ArborUnited States
| | - Shelly B Flagel
- Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience InstituteUniversity of MichiganAnn ArborUnited States
- Department of PsychiatryUniversity of MichiganAnn ArborUnited States
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26
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Abstract
Occasion setting refers to the ability of 1 stimulus, an occasion setter, to modulate the efficacy of the association between another, conditioned stimulus (CS) and an unconditioned stimulus (US) or reinforcer. Occasion setters and simple CSs are readily distinguished. For example, occasion setters are relatively immune to extinction and counterconditioning, and their combination and transfer functions differ substantially from those of simple CSs. Similarly, the acquisition of occasion setting is favored when stimuli are separated by longer intervals, by empty trace intervals, and are of different modalities, whereas the opposite conditions typically favor the acquisition of simple associations. Furthermore, the simple conditioning and occasion setting properties of a single stimulus can be independent, for example, that stimulus may simultaneously predict the occurrence of a reinforcer and indicate that another stimulus will not be reinforced. Many behavioral phenomena that are intractable to simple associative analysis are better understood within an occasion setting framework. Besides capturing the distinction between direct and modulatory control common to many arenas in neuroscience, occasion setting provides a model for the hierarchical organization of memory for events and event relations, and for contextual control more broadly. Although early lesion studies further differentiated between occasion setting and simple conditioning functions, little is known about the neurobiology of occasion setting. Modern techniques for precise manipulation and monitoring of neuronal activity in multiple brain regions are ideally suited for disentangling contributions of simple conditioning and occasion setting in associative learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
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Otis JM, Zhu M, Namboodiri VMK, Cook CA, Kosyk O, Matan AM, Ying R, Hashikawa Y, Hashikawa K, Trujillo-Pisanty I, Guo J, Ung RL, Rodriguez-Romaguera J, Anton ES, Stuber GD. Paraventricular Thalamus Projection Neurons Integrate Cortical and Hypothalamic Signals for Cue-Reward Processing. Neuron 2019; 103:423-431.e4. [PMID: 31196673 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2019.05.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 103] [Impact Index Per Article: 20.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2018] [Revised: 04/16/2019] [Accepted: 05/09/2019] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
The paraventricular thalamus (PVT) is an interface for brain reward circuits, with input signals arising from structures, such as prefrontal cortex and hypothalamus, that are broadcast to downstream limbic targets. However, the precise synaptic connectivity, activity, and function of PVT circuitry for reward processing are unclear. Here, using in vivo two-photon calcium imaging, we find that PVT neurons projecting to the nucleus accumbens (PVT-NAc) develop inhibitory responses to reward-predictive cues coding for both cue-reward associative information and behavior. The multiplexed activity in PVT-NAc neurons is directed by opposing activity patterns in prefrontal and lateral hypothalamic afferent axons. Further, we find that prefrontal cue encoding may maintain accurate cue-reward processing, as optogenetic disruption of this encoding induced long-lasting effects on downstream PVT-NAc cue responses and behavioral cue discrimination. Together, these data reveal that PVT-NAc neurons act as an interface for reward processing by integrating relevant inputs to accurately inform reward-seeking behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- James M Otis
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
| | - ManHua Zhu
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
| | - Vijay M K Namboodiri
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA; Neuroscience Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
| | - Cory A Cook
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
| | - Oksana Kosyk
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
| | - Ana M Matan
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
| | - Rose Ying
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
| | - Yoshiko Hashikawa
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
| | - Koichi Hashikawa
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
| | - Ivan Trujillo-Pisanty
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
| | - Jiami Guo
- Neuroscience Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA; Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
| | - Randall L Ung
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
| | - Jose Rodriguez-Romaguera
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA; Neuroscience Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
| | - E S Anton
- Neuroscience Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA; Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
| | - Garret D Stuber
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA; Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
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28
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Transient inactivation of the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus enhances cue-induced reinstatement in goal-trackers, but not sign-trackers. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2018; 235:999-1014. [PMID: 29285634 PMCID: PMC5871598 DOI: 10.1007/s00213-017-4816-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2017] [Accepted: 12/13/2017] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
RATIONALE The paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) has been shown to mediate cue-motivated behaviors, such as sign- and goal-tracking, as well as reinstatement of drug-seeking behavior. However, the role of the PVT in mediating individual variation in cue-induced drug-seeking behavior remains unknown. OBJECTIVES This study aimed to determine if inactivation of the PVT differentially mediates cue-induced drug-seeking behavior in sign-trackers and goal-trackers. METHODS Rats were characterized as sign-trackers (STs) or goal-trackers (GTs) based on their Pavlovian conditioned approach behavior. Rats were then exposed to 15 days of cocaine self-administration, followed by a 2-week forced abstinence period and then extinction training. Rats then underwent tests for cue-induced reinstatement and general locomotor activity, prior to which they received an infusion of either saline (control) or baclofen/muscimol (B/M) to inactivate the PVT. RESULTS Relative to control animals of the same phenotype, GTs show a robust increase in cue-induced drug-seeking behavior following PVT inactivation, whereas the behavior of STs was not affected. PVT inactivation did not affect locomotor activity in either phenotype. CONCLUSION In GTs, the PVT appears to inhibit the expression of drug-seeking, presumably by attenuating the incentive value of the drug cue. Thus, inactivation of the PVT releases this inhibition in GTs, resulting in an increase in cue-induced drug-seeking behavior. PVT inactivation did not affect cue-induced drug-seeking behavior in STs, suggesting that the role of the PVT in encoding the incentive motivational value of drug cues differs between STs and GTs.
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Nasser HM, Lafferty DS, Lesser EN, Bacharach SZ, Calu DJ. Disconnection of basolateral amygdala and insular cortex disrupts conditioned approach in Pavlovian lever autoshaping. Neurobiol Learn Mem 2018; 147:35-45. [PMID: 29169849 PMCID: PMC5972554 DOI: 10.1016/j.nlm.2017.11.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2017] [Revised: 10/20/2017] [Accepted: 11/18/2017] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Previously established individual differences in appetitive approach and devaluation sensitivity observed in goal- and sign-trackers may be attributed to differences in the acquisition, modification, or use of associative information in basolateral amygdala (BLA) pathways. Here, we sought to determine the extent to which communication of associative information between BLA and anterior portions of insular cortex (IC) supports ongoing Pavlovian conditioned approach behaviors in sign- and goal-tracking rats, in the absence of manipulations to outcome value. We hypothesized that the BLA mediates goal-, but not sign- tracking approach through interactions with the IC, a brain region involved in supporting flexible behavior. We first trained rats in Pavlovian lever autoshaping to determine their sign- or goal-tracking tendency. During alternating test sessions, we gave unilateral intracranial injections of vehicle or a cocktail of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptor agonists, baclofen and muscimol, unilaterally into the BLA and contralaterally or ipsilaterally into the IC prior to reinforced lever autoshaping sessions. Consistent with our hypothesis we found that contralateral inactivation of BLA and IC increased the latency to approach the food cup and decreased the number of food cup contacts in goal-trackers. While contralateral inactivation of BLA and IC did not affect the total number of lever contacts in sign-trackers, this manipulation increased the latency to approach the lever. Ipsilateral inactivation of BLA and IC did not impact approach behaviors in Pavlovian lever autoshaping. These findings, contrary to our hypothesis, suggest that communication between BLA and IC maintains a representation of initially learned appetitive associations that commonly support the initiation of Pavlovian conditioned approach behavior regardless of whether it is directed at the cue or the location of reward delivery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Helen M Nasser
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States
| | - Danielle S Lafferty
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States
| | - Ellen N Lesser
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States
| | - Sam Z Bacharach
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States
| | - Donna J Calu
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States.
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Boosting of Thalamic D2 Dopaminergic Transmission: A Potential Strategy for Drug-Seeking Attenuation. eNeuro 2017; 4:eN-COM-0378-17. [PMID: 29279859 PMCID: PMC5738865 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0378-17.2017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2017] [Revised: 11/27/2017] [Accepted: 11/30/2017] [Indexed: 01/30/2023] Open
Abstract
This commentary focuses on novel findings by Clark et al. (2017) published in eNeuro, which show that dopamine D2 receptors (D2Rs) in the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) are involved in cocaine sensitization. We extend the discussion on how their findings contribute to our understanding of the role of the PVT in drug seeking by providing new insight on the role of the PVT in the regulation of food-seeking and fear responses. We also consider the significance of the neuroanatomical findings reported by Clark et al., that the PVT is reciprocally connected with areas of the brain involved in addiction and discuss the implications associated with the source and type of dopaminergic fibers innervating this area of the thalamus.
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31
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Fitzpatrick CJ, Morrow JD. Thalamic mast cell activity is associated with sign-tracking behavior in rats. Brain Behav Immun 2017; 65:222-229. [PMID: 28487202 PMCID: PMC5537013 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbi.2017.05.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2016] [Revised: 05/03/2017] [Accepted: 05/05/2017] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Mast cells are resident immune cells in the thalamus that can degranulate and release hundreds of signaling molecules (i.e., monoamines, growth factors, and cytokines) both basally and in response to environmental stimuli. Interestingly, mast cell numbers in the brain show immense individual variation in both rodents and humans. We used a Pavlovian conditioned approach (PCA) procedure to examine whether mast cells are associated with individual variation in the attribution of incentive-motivational value to reward-related cues. During the PCA procedure, a lever response-independently predicts the delivery of a food pellet into a magazine, and over training sessions three conditioned responses (CRs) develop: sign-tracking (lever-directed CRs), goal-tracking (magazine-directed CRs), and an intermediate response (both CRs). In Experiment 1, we measured thalamic mast cell number/activation using toluidine blue and demonstrated that sign-trackers have increased degranulated (activated) but not granulated (inactive) mast cells. In Experiment 2, we infused the mast cell inhibitor, cromolyn (200µg/rat; i.c.v.), immediately before five daily PCA training sessions and demonstrated that mast cell inhibition selectively impairs the acquisition of sign-tracking behavior. Taken together, these results demonstrate that thalamic mast cells contribute to the attribution of incentive-motivational value to reward-related cues and suggest that mast cell inhibition may be a novel target for addiction treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jonathan D Morrow
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Michigan, 204 Washtenaw Ave, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA; Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, 4250 Plymouth Rd, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
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32
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Fraser KM, Janak PH. Long-lasting contribution of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens core, but not dorsal lateral striatum, to sign-tracking. Eur J Neurosci 2017; 46:2047-2055. [PMID: 28699296 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.13642] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2017] [Revised: 06/30/2017] [Accepted: 07/04/2017] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
The attribution of incentive salience to reward-paired cues is dependent on dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens core (NAcC). These dopamine signals conform to traditional reward-prediction error signals and have been shown to diminish with time. Here we examined whether the diminishing dopamine signal in the NAcC has functional implications for the expression of sign-tracking, a Pavlovian conditioned response indicative of the attribution of incentive salience to reward-paired cues. Food-restricted male Sprague Dawley rats were trained in a Pavlovian paradigm in which an insertable lever predicted delivery of food reward in a nearby food cup. After 7 or 14 training sessions, rats received infusions of saline, the dopamine antagonist flupenthixol, or the GABA agonists baclofen and muscimol into the NAcC or the dorsal lateral striatum (DLS). Dopamine antagonism within the NAcC attenuated sign-tracking, whereas reversible inactivation did not affect sign-tracking but increased non-specific food cup checking behaviors. Neither drug in the DLS affected sign-tracking behavior. Critically, extended training did not alter these effects. Although extended experience with an incentive stimulus may reduce cue-evoked dopamine in the NAcC, this does not remove the dependence on dopamine in this region to promote Pavlovian cue approach nor result in the recruitment of dorsal lateral striatal systems for this behavior. These data support the notion that dopamine within the mesoaccumbal system, but not the nigrostriatal system, contributes critically to incentive motivational processes independent of the length of training.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kurt M Fraser
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N Charles St, 224 Dunning Hall, Baltimore, MD, 21218, USA
| | - Patricia H Janak
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N Charles St, 224 Dunning Hall, Baltimore, MD, 21218, USA.,The Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
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33
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Wunsch AM, Yager LM, Donckels EA, Le CT, Neumaier JF, Ferguson SM. Chemogenetic inhibition reveals midline thalamic nuclei and thalamo-accumbens projections mediate cocaine-seeking in rats. Eur J Neurosci 2017; 46:1850-1862. [PMID: 28664636 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.13631] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2017] [Revised: 06/23/2017] [Accepted: 06/23/2017] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Abstract
Drug addiction is a chronic disease that is shaped by alterations in neuronal function within the cortical-basal ganglia-thalamic circuit. However, our understanding of how this circuit regulates drug-seeking remains incomplete, and relapse rates remain high. The midline thalamic nuclei are an integral component of the cortical-basal ganglia-thalamic circuit and are poised to mediate addiction behaviors, including relapse. It is surprising that little research has examined the contribution of midline thalamic nuclei and their efferent projections in relapse. To address this, we expressed inhibitory, Gi/o -coupled DREADDs (Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs) in a subset of the midline thalamic nuclei or in midline thalamic nuclei neurons projecting to either the nucleus accumbens or the amygdala. We examined the effect of transiently decreasing activity of these neuronal populations on cue-induced and cocaine-primed reinstatement of cocaine-seeking. Reducing activity of midline thalamic nuclei neurons attenuated both cue-induced and cocaine-primed reinstatement, but had no effect on cue-induced reinstatement of sucrose-seeking or locomotor activity. Interestingly, attenuating activity of efferent projections from the anterior portion of midline thalamic nuclei to the nucleus accumbens blocked cocaine-primed reinstatement but enhanced cue-induced reinstatement. Decreasing activity of efferent projections from either the posterior midline thalamic nuclei to the nucleus accumbens or the midline thalamic nuclei to amygdala had no effect. These results reveal a novel contribution of subsets of midline thalamic nuclei neurons in drug-seeking behaviors and suggest that modulation of midline thalamic nuclei activity may be a promising therapeutic target for preventing relapse.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amanda M Wunsch
- Center for Integrative Brain Research, Seattle Children's Research Institute, 1900 9th Ave, Seattle, WA, 98101, USA.,Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Lindsay M Yager
- Center for Integrative Brain Research, Seattle Children's Research Institute, 1900 9th Ave, Seattle, WA, 98101, USA
| | - Elizabeth A Donckels
- Center for Integrative Brain Research, Seattle Children's Research Institute, 1900 9th Ave, Seattle, WA, 98101, USA
| | - Calvin T Le
- Center for Integrative Brain Research, Seattle Children's Research Institute, 1900 9th Ave, Seattle, WA, 98101, USA
| | - John F Neumaier
- Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.,Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.,Department of Pharmacology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Susan M Ferguson
- Center for Integrative Brain Research, Seattle Children's Research Institute, 1900 9th Ave, Seattle, WA, 98101, USA.,Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.,Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
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34
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Do-Monte FH, Minier-Toribio A, Quiñones-Laracuente K, Medina-Colón EM, Quirk GJ. Thalamic Regulation of Sucrose Seeking during Unexpected Reward Omission. Neuron 2017; 94:388-400.e4. [PMID: 28426970 PMCID: PMC5484638 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2017.03.036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 112] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2016] [Revised: 02/02/2017] [Accepted: 03/27/2017] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
The paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) is thought to regulate behavioral responses under emotionally arousing conditions. Reward-associated cues activate PVT neurons; however, the specific PVT efferents regulating reward seeking remain elusive. Using a cued sucrose-seeking task, we manipulated PVT activity under two emotionally distinct conditions: (1) when reward was available during the cue as expected or (2) when reward was unexpectedly omitted during the cue. Pharmacological inactivation of the anterior PVT (aPVT), but not the posterior PVT, increased sucrose seeking only when reward was omitted. Consistent with this, photoactivation of aPVT neurons abolished sucrose seeking, and the firing of aPVT neurons differentiated reward availability. Photoinhibition of aPVT projections to the nucleus accumbens or to the amygdala increased or decreased, respectively, sucrose seeking only when reward was omitted. Our findings suggest that PVT bidirectionally modulates sucrose seeking under the negative (frustrative) conditions of reward omission.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabricio H Do-Monte
- Departments of Psychiatry and Anatomy & Neurobiology, University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine, PO Box 365067, San Juan 00936, Puerto Rico.
| | - Angélica Minier-Toribio
- Departments of Psychiatry and Anatomy & Neurobiology, University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine, PO Box 365067, San Juan 00936, Puerto Rico
| | - Kelvin Quiñones-Laracuente
- Departments of Psychiatry and Anatomy & Neurobiology, University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine, PO Box 365067, San Juan 00936, Puerto Rico
| | - Estefanía M Medina-Colón
- Departments of Psychiatry and Anatomy & Neurobiology, University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine, PO Box 365067, San Juan 00936, Puerto Rico
| | - Gregory J Quirk
- Departments of Psychiatry and Anatomy & Neurobiology, University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine, PO Box 365067, San Juan 00936, Puerto Rico
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35
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García-Fuster MJ, Parsegian A, Watson SJ, Akil H, Flagel SB. Adolescent cocaine exposure enhances goal-tracking behavior and impairs hippocampal cell genesis selectively in adult bred low-responder rats. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2017; 234:1293-1305. [PMID: 28210781 PMCID: PMC5792824 DOI: 10.1007/s00213-017-4566-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2016] [Accepted: 02/06/2017] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
RATIONALE Environmental challenges during adolescence, such as drug exposure, can cause enduring behavioral and molecular changes that contribute to life-long maladaptive behaviors, including addiction. Selectively bred high-responder (bHR) and low-responder (bLR) rats represent a unique model for assessing the long-term impact of adolescent environmental manipulations, as they inherently differ on a number of addiction-related traits. bHR rats are considered "addiction-prone," whereas bLR rats are "addiction-resilient," at least under baseline conditions. Moreover, relative to bLRs, bHR rats are more likely to attribute incentive motivational value to reward cues, or to "sign-track." OBJECTIVES We utilized bHR and bLR rats to determine whether adolescent cocaine exposure can alter their inborn behavioral and neurobiological profiles, with a specific focus on Pavlovian conditioned approach behavior (i.e., sign- vs. goal-tracking) and hippocampal neurogenesis. METHODS bHR and bLR rats were administered cocaine (15 mg/kg) or saline for 7 days during adolescence (postnatal day, PND 33-39) and subsequently tested for Pavlovian conditioned approach behavior in adulthood (PND 62-75), wherein an illuminated lever (conditioned stimulus) was followed by the response-independent delivery of a food pellet (unconditioned stimulus). Behaviors directed toward the lever and the food cup were recorded as sign- and goal-tracking, respectively. Hippocampal cell genesis was evaluated on PND 77 by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS Adolescent cocaine exposure impaired hippocampal cell genesis (proliferation and survival) and enhanced the inherent propensity to goal-track in adult bLR, but not bHR, rats. CONCLUSIONS Adolescent cocaine exposure elicits long-lasting changes in stimulus-reward learning and enduring deficits in hippocampal neurogenesis selectively in adult bLR rats.
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Affiliation(s)
- M. Julia García-Fuster
- IUNICS/IdISPa, University of the Balearic Islands, Palma de Mallorca, Spain,Corresponding author: M. Julia García-Fuster. IUNICS/IdISPa, University of the Balearic Islands, Cra. Valldemossa km 7.5, E-07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Phone: +34 971 259992. Fax: +34 971 259501.
| | - Aram Parsegian
- Molecular & Behavioral Neuroscience Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
| | - Stanley J. Watson
- Molecular & Behavioral Neuroscience Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA,Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
| | - Huda Akil
- Molecular & Behavioral Neuroscience Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA,Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
| | - Shelly B. Flagel
- Molecular & Behavioral Neuroscience Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA,Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
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36
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Paraventricular Thalamus Balances Danger and Reward. J Neurosci 2017; 37:3018-3029. [PMID: 28193686 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.3320-16.2017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 68] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2016] [Revised: 01/31/2017] [Accepted: 02/03/2017] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Foraging animals balance the need to seek food and energy against the accompanying dangers of injury and predation. To do so, they rely on learning systems encoding reward and danger. Whereas much is known about these separate learning systems, little is known about how they interact to shape and guide behavior. Here we show a key role for the rat paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT), a nucleus of the dorsal midline thalamus, in this interaction. First, we show behavioral competition between reward and danger: the opportunity to seek food reward negatively modulates expression of species-typical defensive behavior. Then, using a chemogenetic approach expressing the inhibitory hM4Di designer receptor exclusively activated by a designer drug in PVT neurons, we show that the PVT is central to this behavioral competition. Chemogenetic PVT silencing biases behavior toward either defense or reward depending on the experimental conditions, but does not consistently favor expression of one over the other. This bias could not be attributed to changes in fear memory retrieval, learned safety, or memory interference. Rather, our results demonstrate that the PVT is essential for balancing conflicting behavioral tendencies toward danger and reward, enabling adaptive responding under this basic selection pressure.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Among the most basic survival problems faced by animals is balancing the need to seek food and energy against the accompanying dangers of injury and predation. Although much is known about the brain mechanisms that underpin learning about reward and danger, little is known about how these interact to solve basic survival problems. Here we show competition between defensive (to avoid predatory detection) and approach (to obtain food) behavior. We show that the paraventricular thalamus, a nucleus of the dorsal midline thalamus, is integral to this behavioral competition. The paraventricular thalamus balances the competing behavioral demands of danger and reward, enabling adaptive responding under this selection pressure.
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37
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Kim K, Müller MLTM, Bohnen NI, Sarter M, Lustig C. Thalamic cholinergic innervation makes a specific bottom-up contribution to signal detection: Evidence from Parkinson's disease patients with defined cholinergic losses. Neuroimage 2017; 149:295-304. [PMID: 28167350 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.02.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2016] [Revised: 01/10/2017] [Accepted: 02/02/2017] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Successful behavior depends on the ability to detect and respond to relevant cues, especially under challenging conditions. This essential component of attention has been hypothesized to be mediated by multiple neuromodulator systems, but the contributions of individual systems (e.g., cholinergic, dopaminergic) have remained unclear. The present study addresses this issue by leveraging individual variation in regionally-specific cholinergic denervation in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients, while controlling for variation in dopaminergic denervation. Patients whose dopaminergic and cholinergic nerve terminal integrity had been previously assessed using Positron Emission Tomography (Bohnen et al., 2012) and controls were tested in a signal detection task that manipulates attentional-perceptual challenge and has been used extensively in both rodents and humans to investigate the cholinergic system's role in responding to such challenges (Demeter et al., 2008; McGaughy and Sarter, 1995; see Hasselmo and Sarter 2011 for review). In simple correlation analyses, measures of midbrain dopaminergic, and both cortical and thalamic cholinergic innervation all predicted preserved signal detection under challenge. However, regression analyses also controlling for age, disease severity, and other variables showed that the only significant independent neurotransmitter-related predictor over and above the other variables in the model was thalamic cholinergic integrity. Furthermore, thalamic cholinergic innervation exclusively predicted hits, not correct rejections, indicating a specific contribution to bottom-up salience processing. These results help define regionally-specific contributions of cholinergic function to different aspects of attention and behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kamin Kim
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, United States.
| | - Martijn L T M Müller
- Department of Radiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, United States; University of Michigan Morris K. Udall Center of Excellence for Parkinson's Disease Research, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, United States
| | - Nicolaas I Bohnen
- Department of Radiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, United States; Department of Neurology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, United States; University of Michigan Morris K. Udall Center of Excellence for Parkinson's Disease Research, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, United States; Veterans Affairs Ann Arbor Healthcare System, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, United States
| | - Martin Sarter
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, United States; Neuroscience Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, United States; University of Michigan Morris K. Udall Center of Excellence for Parkinson's Disease Research, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, United States
| | - Cindy Lustig
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, United States; Neuroscience Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, United States; University of Michigan Morris K. Udall Center of Excellence for Parkinson's Disease Research, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, United States.
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38
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Flagel SB, Robinson TE. Neurobiological Basis of Individual Variation in Stimulus-Reward Learning. Curr Opin Behav Sci 2017; 13:178-185. [PMID: 28670608 PMCID: PMC5486979 DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2016.12.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 74] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Cues in the environment can guide behavior in adaptive ways, leading one towards valuable resources such as food, water, or a potential mate. However, cues in the environment may also serve as powerful motivators that lead to maladaptive patterns of behavior, such as addiction. Importantly, and central to this article, there is considerable individual variation in the extent to which reward cues gain motivational control over behavior. Here we describe an animal model that captures this individual variation, allowing us to better understand the psychological and neurobiological processes that contribute to cue-evoked behaviors. When a discrete cue is paired with a food reward in a Pavlovian manner it acquires greater control over motivated behavior in some rats ("sign-trackers, STs) than in others ("goal-trackers", GTs). We review studies that have exploited this animal model to parse the neurobiological mechanisms involved in learning associations between stimuli vs. those involved in attributing incentive salience to those same stimuli. The latter seems to be dependent on dopamine and subcortical circuits, whereas the former may engage more cortical "top-down" mechanisms.
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Millan EZ, Ong Z, McNally GP. Paraventricular thalamus: Gateway to feeding, appetitive motivation, and drug addiction. PROGRESS IN BRAIN RESEARCH 2017; 235:113-137. [DOI: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2017.07.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 79] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
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Herrera CG, Ponomarenko A, Korotkova T, Burdakov D, Adamantidis A. Sleep & metabolism: The multitasking ability of lateral hypothalamic inhibitory circuitries. Front Neuroendocrinol 2017; 44:27-34. [PMID: 27884682 DOI: 10.1016/j.yfrne.2016.11.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2016] [Revised: 11/18/2016] [Accepted: 11/19/2016] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
The anatomical and functional mapping of lateral hypothalamic circuits has been limited by the numerous cell types and complex, yet unclear, connectivity. Recent advances in functional dissection of input-output neurons in the lateral hypothalamus have identified subset of inhibitory cells as crucial modulators of both sleep-wake states and metabolism. Here, we summarize these recent studies and discuss the multi-tasking functions of hypothalamic circuitries in integrating sleep and metabolism in the mammalian brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carolina Gutierrez Herrera
- Department of Neurology and Department of Clinical Research, Inselspital University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland; Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Alexey Ponomarenko
- Leibniz Institute for Molecular Pharmacology (FMP)/NeuroCure Cluster of Excellence, Berlin, Germany
| | - Tatiana Korotkova
- Leibniz Institute for Molecular Pharmacology (FMP)/NeuroCure Cluster of Excellence, Berlin, Germany
| | - Denis Burdakov
- The Francis Crick Institute, Mill Hill Laboratory, London NW7 1AA, UK; Department of Developmental Neurobiology, King's College London, London WC2R 2LS, UK
| | - Antoine Adamantidis
- Department of Neurology and Department of Clinical Research, Inselspital University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland; Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
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Ferrario CR, Labouèbe G, Liu S, Nieh EH, Routh VH, Xu S, O'Connor EC. Homeostasis Meets Motivation in the Battle to Control Food Intake. J Neurosci 2016; 36:11469-11481. [PMID: 27911750 PMCID: PMC5125214 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.2338-16.2016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 160] [Impact Index Per Article: 20.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2016] [Revised: 08/30/2016] [Accepted: 09/05/2016] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Signals of energy homeostasis interact closely with neural circuits of motivation to control food intake. An emerging hypothesis is that the transition to maladaptive feeding behavior seen in eating disorders or obesity may arise from dysregulation of these interactions. Focusing on key brain regions involved in the control of food intake (ventral tegmental area, striatum, hypothalamus, and thalamus), we describe how activity of specific cell types embedded within these regions can influence distinct components of motivated feeding behavior. We review how signals of energy homeostasis interact with these regions to influence motivated behavioral output and present evidence that experience-dependent neural adaptations in key feeding circuits may represent cellular correlates of impaired food intake control. Future research into mechanisms that restore the balance of control between signals of homeostasis and motivated feeding behavior may inspire new treatment options for eating disorders and obesity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carrie R Ferrario
- University of Michigan Medical School, Department of Pharmacology, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-5632
| | - Gwenaël Labouèbe
- University of Lausanne, Center for Integrative Genomics, Lausanne, CH1015, Switzerland
| | - Shuai Liu
- University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N 4N1, Canada
| | - Edward H Nieh
- Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139
| | | | - Shengjin Xu
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, Virginia 20147, and
| | - Eoin C O'Connor
- University of Geneva, Department of Basic Neuroscience, Geneva, CH1211, Switzerland
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Haight JL, Fuller ZL, Fraser KM, Flagel SB. A food-predictive cue attributed with incentive salience engages subcortical afferents and efferents of the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus. Neuroscience 2016; 340:135-152. [PMID: 27793779 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2016.10.043] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2016] [Revised: 09/27/2016] [Accepted: 10/18/2016] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
The paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) has been implicated in behavioral responses to reward-associated cues. However, the precise role of the PVT in these behaviors has been difficult to ascertain since Pavlovian-conditioned cues can act as both predictive and incentive stimuli. The "sign-tracker/goal-tracker" rat model has allowed us to further elucidate the role of the PVT in cue-motivated behaviors, identifying this structure as a critical component of the neural circuitry underlying individual variation in the propensity to attribute incentive salience to reward cues. The current study assessed differences in the engagement of specific PVT afferents and efferents in response to presentation of a food-cue that had been attributed with only predictive value or with both predictive and incentive value. The retrograde tracer fluorogold (FG) was injected into the PVT or the nucleus accumbens (NAc) of rats, and cue-induced c-Fos in FG-labeled cells was quantified. Presentation of a predictive stimulus that had been attributed with incentive value elicited c-Fos in PVT afferents from the lateral hypothalamus, medial amygdala (MeA), and the prelimbic cortex (PrL), as well as posterior PVT efferents to the NAc. PVT afferents from the PrL also showed elevated c-Fos levels following presentation of a predictive stimulus alone. Thus, presentation of an incentive stimulus results in engagement of subcortical brain regions; supporting a role for the hypothalamic-thalamic-striatal axis, as well as the MeA, in mediating responses to incentive stimuli; whereas activity in the PrL to PVT pathway appears to play a role in processing the predictive qualities of reward-paired stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joshua L Haight
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
| | - Zachary L Fuller
- Undergraduate Program in Neuroscience, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
| | - Kurt M Fraser
- Undergraduate Program in Neuroscience, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
| | - Shelly B Flagel
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States; Undergraduate Program in Neuroscience, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States; Department of Psychiatry, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States; Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Institute, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States.
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Khoo SYS, Gibson GD, Prasad AA, McNally GP. How contexts promote and prevent relapse to drug seeking. GENES BRAIN AND BEHAVIOR 2016; 16:185-204. [PMID: 27612655 DOI: 10.1111/gbb.12328] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2016] [Revised: 08/30/2016] [Accepted: 08/31/2016] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
The contexts where drugs are self-administered play an important role in regulating persistent drug taking and in relapse to such taking after periods of abstinence. Here, we review the behavioral and brain mechanisms enabling contexts to promote and prevent relapse to drug seeking. We review the key brain structures, their neuropharmacology and their connectivity. We discuss the similarities and differences between the mechanisms for context-induced reinstatement of drug seeking vs. other forms of relapse to drug seeking in animal models and we highlight the numerous deficits in our understanding. We emphasize that current understanding, although significant, defies explanations in terms of models at the level of brain structures and their connectivity. Rather, we show that there is significant functional compartmentalization and segregation within these structures during reinstatement and extinction of drug seeking that parallels their anatomical segregation into circuits and channels. A key challenge is to recognize this complexity, understand how these circuits and channels are organized, as well as understand how different modes of activity of ensembles of neurons within them promote abstinence or relapse to drug seeking.
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Affiliation(s)
- S Y-S Khoo
- School of Psychology, UNSW Australia, Sydney, Australia
| | - G D Gibson
- School of Psychology, UNSW Australia, Sydney, Australia
| | - A A Prasad
- School of Psychology, UNSW Australia, Sydney, Australia
| | - G P McNally
- School of Psychology, UNSW Australia, Sydney, Australia
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Fitzpatrick CJ, Creeden JF, Perrine SA, Morrow JD. Lesions of the ventral hippocampus attenuate the acquisition but not expression of sign-tracking behavior in rats. Hippocampus 2016; 26:1424-1434. [PMID: 27438780 DOI: 10.1002/hipo.22619] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/11/2016] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Individual variation in the attribution of motivational salience to reward-related cues is believed to underlie addiction vulnerability. Pavlovian conditioned approach measures individual variation in motivational salience by identifying rats that are attracted to and motivated by reward cues (sign-trackers) or motivationally fixed on the reward itself (goal-trackers). Previously, it has been demonstrated that sign-trackers are more vulnerable to addiction-like behavior. Moreover, sign-trackers release more dopamine in the nucleus accumbens than goal-trackers in response to reward-related cues, and sign- but not goal-tracking behavior is dopamine-dependent. In the present study, we investigated whether the ventral hippocampus, a potent driver of dopaminergic activity in the nucleus accumbens, modulates the acquisition and expression of Pavlovian conditioned approach behavior. In Experiment 1, lesions of the ventral, but not dorsal or total hippocampus, decreased sign-tracking behavior. In Experiment 2, lesions of the ventral hippocampus did not affect the expression of sign- or goal-tracking behaviors nor conditioned reinforcement. In addition, temporary inactivation of the ventral subiculum, the main output pathway of the ventral hippocampus, did not affect the expression of sign- or goal-tracking behaviors. High-pressure liquid chromatography of nucleus accumbens tissue punches revealed that ventral hippocampal lesions decreased levels of homovanillic acid and the homovanillic acid/dopamine ratio (a marker of dopamine release and metabolism) in only sign-trackers, and decreased accumbal norepinephrine levels in both sign- and goal-trackers. These results suggest that the ventral hippocampus is important for the acquisition but not expression of sign-tracking behavior, possibly as a result of altered dopamine and norepinephrine in the nucleus accumbens. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Justin F Creeden
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
| | - Shane A Perrine
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan
| | - Jonathan D Morrow
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
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Ahrens AM, Meyer PJ, Ferguson LM, Robinson TE, Aldridge JW. Neural Activity in the Ventral Pallidum Encodes Variation in the Incentive Value of a Reward Cue. J Neurosci 2016; 36:7957-70. [PMID: 27466340 PMCID: PMC4961780 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0736-16.2016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2016] [Revised: 05/20/2016] [Accepted: 06/09/2016] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
UNLABELLED There is considerable individual variation in the extent to which reward cues are attributed with incentive salience. For example, a food-predictive conditioned stimulus (CS; an illuminated lever) becomes attractive, eliciting approach toward it only in some rats ("sign trackers," STs), whereas others ("goal trackers," GTs) approach the food cup during the CS period. The purpose of this study was to determine how individual differences in Pavlovian approach responses are represented in neural firing patterns in the major output structure of the mesolimbic system, the ventral pallidum (VP). Single-unit in vivo electrophysiology was used to record neural activity in the caudal VP during the performance of ST and GT conditioned responses. All rats showed neural responses to both cue onset and reward delivery but, during the CS period, STs showed greater neural activity than GTs both in terms of the percentage of responsive neurons and the magnitude of the change in neural activity. Furthermore, neural activity was positively correlated with the degree of attraction to the cue. Given that the CS had equal predictive value in STs and GTs, we conclude that neural activity in the VP largely reflects the degree to which the CS was attributed with incentive salience. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Cues associated with reward can acquire motivational properties (i.e., incentive salience) that cause them to have a powerful influence on desire and motivated behavior. There are individual differences in sensitivity to reward-paired cues, with some individuals attaching greater motivational value to cues than others. Here, we investigated the neural activity associated with these individual differences in incentive salience. We found that cue-evoked neural firing in the ventral pallidum (VP) reflected the strength of incentive motivation, with the greatest neural responses occurring in individuals that demonstrated the strongest attraction to the cue. This suggests that the VP plays an important role in the process by which cues gain control over motivation and behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Allison M Ahrens
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, and
| | - Paul J Meyer
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, and Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York 14051
| | - Lindsay M Ferguson
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, and
| | - Terry E Robinson
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, and
| | - J Wayne Aldridge
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, and
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Fraser KM, Haight JL, Gardner EL, Flagel SB. Examining the role of dopamine D2 and D3 receptors in Pavlovian conditioned approach behaviors. Behav Brain Res 2016; 305:87-99. [PMID: 26909847 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2016.02.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2015] [Revised: 01/26/2016] [Accepted: 02/19/2016] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Elucidating the neurobiological mechanisms underlying individual differences in the extent to which reward cues acquire the ability to act as incentive stimuli may contribute to the development of successful treatments for addiction and related disorders. We used the sign-tracker/goal-tracker animal model to examine the role of dopamine D2 and D3 receptors in the propensity to attribute incentive salience to reward cues. Following Pavlovian training, wherein a discrete lever-cue was paired with food reward, rats were classified as sign- or goal-trackers based on the resultant conditioned response. We examined the effects of D2/D3 agonists, 7-OH-DPAT (0.01-0.32mg/kg) or pramipexole (0.032-0.32mg/kg), the D2/D3 antagonist raclopride (0.1mg/kg), and the selective D3 antagonist, SB-277011A (6 or 24mg/kg), on the expression of sign- and goal-tracking conditioned responses. The lever-cue acquired predictive value and elicited a conditioned response for sign- and goal-trackers, but only for sign-trackers did it also acquire incentive value. Following administration of either 7-OH-DPAT, pramipexole, or raclopride, the performance of the previously acquired conditioned response was attenuated for both sign- and goal-trackers. For sign-trackers, the D2/D3 agonist, 7-OH-DPAT, also attenuated the conditioned reinforcing properties of the lever-cue. The selective D3 antagonist did not affect either conditioned response. Alterations in D2/D3 receptor signaling, but not D3 signaling alone, transiently attenuate a previously acquired Pavlovian conditioned response, regardless of whether the response is a result of incentive motivational processes. These findings suggest activity at the dopamine D2 receptor is critical for a reward cue to maintain either its incentive or predictive qualities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kurt M Fraser
- Undergraduate Program in Neuroscience, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States; Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
| | - Joshua L Haight
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
| | - Eliot L Gardner
- Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Baltimore, MD, United States
| | - Shelly B Flagel
- Undergraduate Program in Neuroscience, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States; Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States; Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States.
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