Neural Coding of Reward in Ventral Forebrain

腹侧前脑奖励的神经编码

• 批准号: 6867696
• 负责人: J Wayne Aldridge
• 金额: $ 29.44万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-03-01 至 2010-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6867696
• 关键词: amphetamines; behavior test; behavioral /social science research tag; behavioral extinction; behavioral habituation /sensitization; conditioning; craving; cues; drug addiction; drug habituation; ethology; food flavor; germ free condition; laboratory rat; lenticular nucleus; motivation; neural information processing; neuropsychology; pathologic process; prosencephalon; reinforcer; single cell analysis; substance abuse related behavior; sucrose; taste

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): In this study, we will investigate possible neural coding mechanisms for reward liking and wanting, which are important to drug addiction as well as motivation for natural rewards. We will focus on neural firing in the ventral pallidum (VP), which is a primary target of brain mesolimbic circuits involved in wanting and liking rewards. We will test the idea that neural activity in the ventral pallidum encodes stimuli that are hedonic rewards, such as sucrose taste, and encodes also conditioned incentive stimuli that predict rewards, such as Pavlovian-trained sounds. We will record activity of single neurons in rats trained to discriminate a tone (CS+) that predicts a sucrose reward (UCS) from a tone that predicts nothing (CS-). We anticipate finding that VP neurons have population codes and firing rate codes both for hedonic UCS receipt and for predictive CS+s. To find out whether such codes reflect the value of these reward stimuli or else more stable properties (sensory features or prior associations), we will test VP firing after manipulations that change CS or UCS reward values (e.g., neural sensitization, taste aversion conditioning). Based on preliminary work, we anticipate that VP neuronal firing rates will code CS and UCS reward values independently of other features, providing neural bases for integrating reward liking and wanting. Our findings could lead to a better understanding of the pathophysiology of reward and new therapeutic tactics for drug abuse.

描述（由申请人提供）：在这项研究中，我们将研究可能的神经编码机制，以奖励和渴望，这对吸毒成瘾以及自然奖励的动机很重要。我们将重点关注腹侧颗粒（VP）中的神经射击，这是脑中脑中脑线电路的主要目标，涉及和喜欢奖励。我们将测试以下想法：腹侧粒子中的神经活动编码享乐奖励的刺激，例如蔗糖的口味，并且编码还可以预测预测奖励的激励刺激，例如由Pavlovian训练有素的声音。我们将记录受过训练的大鼠中的单个神经元的活动，以区分语调（CS+），该音调（CS+）可以预测蔗糖奖励（UCS），从没有预测的音调（CS-）。我们预计发现，副总裁神经元具有享乐UCS收据和预测性CS+s的人口代码和发射速率代码。为了找出此类代码是否反映了这些奖励刺激的价值，还是更稳定的属性（感觉功能或先前的关联），我们将在改变CS或UCS奖励值的操作后测试VP触发（例如，神经敏化，口味厌恶条件）。基于初步工作，我们预计副总裁神经元发射率将独立于其他功能奖励CS和UCS奖励值，从而为整合奖励喜欢和想要的神经基础提供了神经基础。我们的发现可能会更好地了解奖励的病理生理学和药物滥用的新治疗策略。