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，我们将研究奖励喜欢和想要的可能的神经编码机制，这对于药物成瘾以及自然奖励的动机很重要。我们将重点关注腹侧苍白球（VP）的神经放电，这是涉及想要和喜欢奖励的大脑中边缘回路的主要目标。我们将测试这样的想法：腹侧苍白球的神经活动编码享乐奖励的刺激，例如蔗糖味道，并编码预测奖励的条件激励刺激，例如巴甫洛夫训练的声音。我们将记录经过训练的老鼠的单个神经元的活动，这些老鼠被训练来区分预测蔗糖奖励（UCS）的音调（CS+）和预测任何东西的音调（CS-）。我们预计发现 VP 神经元具有用于享乐 UCS 接收和预测 CS+ 的群体代码和放电率代码。为了查明这些代码是否反映了这些奖励刺激的价值或更稳定的属性（感官特征或先前的关联），我们将在改变 CS 或 UCS 奖励值（例如神经敏化、味觉厌恶条件反射）的操作后测试 VP 放电。根据初步工作，我们预计 VP 神经元放电率将独立于其他特征对 CS 和 UCS 奖励值进行编码，为整合奖励喜好和需求提供神经基础。我们的研究结果可能有助于更好地理解奖励的病理生理学和药物滥用的新治疗策略。