scholarly journals Reward-predictive cues elicit maladaptive reward seeking in adolescent rats

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew T. Marshall ◽  
Nigel T. Maidment ◽  
Sean B. Ostlund
Keyword(s):  
Adult Male ◽  
Impulse Control ◽  
Male Rats ◽  
Impulsive Behavior ◽  
Reward Seeking ◽  
Reward Delivery ◽  
Seeking Behavior ◽  
Reward Expectancy ◽  
Lever Pressing ◽  
Adolescent Rats

AbstractImpulsive behavior during adolescence may stem from a developmental imbalance between motivational and impulse control systems, producing greater urges to pursue reward and weakened capacities to inhibit such actions. Here, we developed a Pavlovian-instrumental transfer (PIT) protocol to assay rats’ ability to suppress cue-motivated reward seeking based on changes in reward expectancy. Traditionally, PIT studies focus on how reward-predictive cues motivate instrumental reward-seeking behavior (lever pressing). However, cues signaling imminent reward delivery also elicit countervailing focal-search responses (food-cup approach). We first examined how reward expectancy (cue-reward probability) influences expression of these competing behaviors. Adult male rats increased rates of lever pressing when presented with cues signaling lower probabilities of reward but focused their activity at the food cup on trials with cues that signaled higher probabilities of reward. We then compared adolescent and adult male rats in their responsivity to cues signaling different reward probabilities. In contrast to adults, adolescent rats did not flexibly adjust their pattern of responding based on the expected likelihood of reward delivery but increased their rate of lever pressing for both weak and strong cues. These findings indicate that impulse control over cue-motivated behavior is fundamentally dysregulated during adolescence, providing a model for studying neurobiological mechanisms of adolescent impulsivity.

A Conflict Model of Reward-seeking Behavior in Male Rats

10.3791/59141 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaofei Jiang ◽  
Yue Zhang ◽  
Xigeng Zheng ◽  
Haoshuang Luo ◽  
Zhengkui Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Male Rats ◽  
Reward Seeking ◽  
Conflict Model ◽  
Seeking Behavior

scholarly journals Cue-motivated reward seeking is negatively regulated by expected reward magnitude in Pavlovian-instrumental transfer

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew T Marshall ◽  
Sean B. Ostlund
Keyword(s):  
Reward Magnitude ◽  
Alternative Hypothesis ◽  
Food Pellet ◽  
Expected Time ◽  
Reward Seeking ◽  
Reward Delivery ◽  
Motivational Influence ◽  
Seeking Behavior ◽  
Efficient Retrieval ◽  
Group 3

The Pavlovian-instrumental transfer (PIT) paradigm is widely used to assay the motivational influence of reward-paired cues, which is reflected by their ability to stimulate instrumental reward-seeking behavior. Leading models of incentive learning assume that motivational value is assigned to cues based on the total amount of reward they signal (i.e., their state value). Based on recent findings, we lay out the alternative hypothesis that cue-elicited reward predictions may actually suppress the motivation to seek out new rewards through instrumental behavior in order to facilitate efficient retrieval of a reward that is already expected, before it is lost or stolen. According to this view, cue-motivated reward seeking should be inversely related to the magnitude of an expected reward, since there is more to lose by failing to secure a large reward than a small reward. We investigated the influence of expected reward magnitude on PIT expression. Hungry rats were initially trained to lever press for food pellets before undergoing Pavlovian conditioning, in which two distinct auditory cues signaled food pellet delivery at cue offset. Reward magnitude was varied across cues and groups. While all groups had at least one cue that signaled three food pellets, the alternate cue signaled either one (Group 1/3), three (Group 3/3), or nine food pellets (Group 3/9). PIT testing revealed that the motivational influence of reward-predictive cues on lever pressing varied inversely with expected reward magnitude, with the 1-pellet cue augmenting performance and the 3- and 9-pellet cues suppressing performance, particularly near the expected time of reward delivery. This pattern was mirrored by opposing changes in the food-port entry behavior, which varied positively with expected reward magnitude. We discuss how these findings may relate to cognitive control over cue-motivated behavior.

scholarly journals Cortico-striatal synaptic plasticity underlying compulsive reward seeking

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masaya Harada ◽  
Agnes Hiver ◽  
Vincent Pascoli ◽  
Christian Lüscher
Keyword(s):  
Ex Vivo ◽  
Dorsal Striatum ◽  
Excitatory Synapses ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Drug Seeking ◽  
Reward Seeking ◽  
Clinical Observations ◽  
Seeking Behavior ◽  
Lever Pressing

AbstractLoss of control over drug intake and persistent drug-seeking despite negative consequences define addiction. Increase dopamine levels in the mesolimbic system may constitute the initial trigger. Optogenetic self-stimulation of VTA DA neurons (oDASS) has thus been proposed as an addiction model. Indeed, lever pressing to turn on a laser aimed at ChR2 expressing DA neurons is strongly reinforcing. Clinical observations indicate that drug-seeking even with the risk of harmful consequences occurs only in a fraction of users, with chronic drug consumption. Here, mice carried out a seek-take chain in order to selectively study compulsive seeking behavior. Once fully established, a probabilistic punishment of the seeking lever led to the emergence of two classes of mice; those that persevered and those that renounced oDASS. Ex vivo characterization of three distinct cortico-striatal streams demonstrated a selective potentiation of excitatory synapses of the orbito-frontal cortex (OFC) to dorsal striatum projection in persevering mice. Taken together, our data indicate a gain-of-function of OFC striatal control in compulsive oDASS.

scholarly journals The basolateral nucleus of the amygdala regulates both the predictive and incentive motivational properties of reward cues

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice Servonnet ◽  
Giovanni Hernandez ◽  
Cynthia El Hage ◽  
Pierre-Paul Rompré ◽  
Anne-Noël Samaha
Keyword(s):  
Pavlovian Conditioning ◽  
Predictive Value ◽  
Basolateral Amygdala ◽  
Incentive Motivation ◽  
Male Rats ◽  
Neuron Activity ◽  
Food Cues ◽  
Reward Seeking ◽  
Basolateral Nucleus ◽  
Lever Pressing

ABSTRACTReward-associated stimuli can acquire both predictive and incentive motivational properties. These conditioned stimuli (CS) can then guide reward-seeking behaviour in adaptive (e.g., locating food) and maladaptive (e.g., binge eating) ways. The basolateral amygdala (BLA) contributes to learning of the predictive value of CS, but less is known about BLA contributions to the incentive motivational properties of appetitive CS. Here we studied the influence of BLA neuron activity on both the predictive and incentive motivational effects of CS. Water-restricted male rats learned to associate a light-tone cue (CS) with water delivery into a port. We assessed the predictive value to the CS by measuring CS-evoked port entries during Pavlovian conditioning. We assessed CS-evoked incentive motivation by measuring lever-pressing for the CS during instrumental responding sessions. During Pavlovian conditioning, we paired CS presentations with photo-stimulation of channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2)-expressing BLA neurons. This potentiated CS-evoked port entries during conditioning, but suppressed subsequent lever-pressing for the CS. This indicates increased conditioned responding to the CS, but an apparent decrease in incentive motivation for that CS. However, in rats previously naïve to photo-stimulation, pairing BLA-ChR2 stimulations during lever-pressing for the CS intensified responding, indicating enhanced motivation for the CS. Rats did not self-administer BLA-ChR2 stimulations, suggesting that BLA activation does not carry a primary reward signal. Lastly, intra-BLA infusions of d-amphetamine also intensified lever-pressing for the CS. These converging findings suggest that BLA mediated-activity enhances both the predictive and incentive motivational properties of CS, allowing BLA-dependent circuits to guide behaviour in the presence of reward-associated cues.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTCues paired with rewards can guide animals to valuable resources such as food. Cues can also promote dysfunctional reward-seeking behaviour, as in over-eating. Reward-paired cues influence reward seeking through two major mechanisms. First, reward-paired cues are predictive and thus evoke anticipation of future rewards. Second, reward-paired cues are powerful motivators and they can evoke pursuit in their own right. Here we show that increasing neural activity in the basolateral amygdala enhances both the predictive and motivational effects of reward-paired cues. The basolateral amygdala therefore facilitates cue-induced control over behaviour by both increasing anticipation for impending rewards and making reward cues more attractive.

scholarly journals Do Prenatally Methamphetamine-Exposed Adult Male Rats Display General Predisposition to Drug Abuse in the Conditioned Place Preference Test?

2012 ◽  
pp. S129-S138
Author(s):  
R. ŠLAMBEROVÁ ◽  
M. POMETLOVÁ ◽  
B. SCHUTOVÁ ◽  
L. HRUBÁ ◽  
E. MACÚCHOVÁ ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drug Abuse ◽  
Pregnant Women ◽  
Conditioned Place Preference ◽  
Adult Male ◽  
Place Preference ◽  
Male Rats ◽  
Self Administration ◽  
Adult Rats ◽  
Drug Seeking ◽  
Seeking Behavior

Drug abuse of pregnant women is a growing problem. The effect of prenatal drug exposure may have devastating effect on development of the offsprings that may be long-term or even permanent. One of the most common drug abused by pregnant women is methamphetamine (MA), which is also the most frequently abused illicit drug in the Czech Republic. Our previous studies demonstrated that prenatal MA exposure alters behavior, cognition, pain and seizures in adult rats in sex-specific manner. Our most recent studies demonstrate that prenatal MA exposure makes adult rats more sensitive to acute injection of the same or related drugs than their controls. The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of prenatal MA exposure on drug-seeking behavior of adult male rats tested in the Conditioned place preference (CPP). Adult male rats were divided to: prenatally MA-exposed (5 mg/kg daily for the entire prenatal period), prenatally saline-exposed (1 ml/kg of physiological saline) and controls (without maternal injections). The following drugs were used in the CPP test in adulthood: MA (5 mg/kg), amphetamine (5 mg/kg), cocaine (5 and 10 mg/kg), morphine (5 mg/kg), MDMA (5 mg/kg) and THC (2 mg/kg). Our data demonstrated that prenatally MA-exposed rats displayed higher amphetamine-seeking behavior than both controls. MA as well as morphine induced drug-seeking behavior of adult male rats, however this effect did not differ based on the prenatal MA exposure. In contrast, prenatal MA exposure induced rather tolerance to cocaine than sensitization after the conditioning in the CPP. MDMA and THC did not induce significant effects. Even though the present data did not fully confirmed our hypotheses, future studies are planned to test the drug-seeking behavior also in self-administration test.

scholarly journals Chemogenetic activation of mesoaccumbal Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid projections selectively tunes responses to predictive cues when reward value is abruptly decreased

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ken T. Wakabayashi ◽  
Malte Feja ◽  
Martin P.K. Leigh ◽  
Ajay N. Baindur ◽  
Mauricio Suarez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Aminobutyric Acid ◽  
Male Rats ◽  
Gamma Aminobutyric Acid ◽  
Inhibitory Circuits ◽  
Gaba Neurons ◽  
Reward Seeking ◽  
Reward Value ◽  
Seeking Behavior ◽  
Adaptive Responding ◽  
Viral Targeting

ABSTRACTBackgroundMesolimbic circuits regulate the attribution of motivational significance to incentive cues that predict reward, yet this network also plays a key role in adapting reward-seeking behavior when the contingencies linked to a cue unexpectedly change. Here we asked whether mesoaccumbal gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) projections enhance adaptive responding to incentive cues of abruptly altered reward value, and whether these effects were distinct from global activation of all ventral tegmental area (VTA) GABA circuits.MethodsWe used a viral targeting system to chemogenetically activate mesoaccumbal GABA projections in male rats during a novel cue-dependent operant Value Shifting (VS) task, in which the volume of a sucrose reward associated with a predictive cue is suddenly altered, from the beginning and throughout the session. We compared the results with global activation of VTA GABA neurons, which will activate local inhibitory circuits and long loop projections.ResultsWe found that activation of mesoaccumbal GABA projections decreases responding to incentive cues associated with smaller-than-expected rewards. This tuning of behavioral responses was specific to cues associated with smaller-than-expected rewards, but did not impact measures related to consuming the reward. In marked contrast, activating all VTA(GABA) neurons resulted in a uniform decrease in responding to incentive cues irrespective of changes in the size of the reward.ConclusionsTargeted activation of mesoaccumbal GABA neurons facilitate adaptation in reward-seeking behaviors. This suggests that these projections may play a very specific role in associative learning processes.

Does prenatal methamphetamine exposure affect the drug-seeking behavior of adult male rats?

2011 ◽  
Vol 224 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Romana Šlamberová ◽  
Barbora Schutová ◽  
Lenka Hrubá ◽  
Marie Pometlová
Keyword(s):  
Adult Male ◽  
Male Rats ◽  
Drug Seeking ◽  
Seeking Behavior

scholarly journals Ventral pallidal encoding of reward-seeking behavior depends on the underlying associative structure

eLife ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jocelyn M Richard ◽  
Nakura Stout ◽  
Deanna Acs ◽  
Patricia H Janak
Keyword(s):  
Behavioral Responses ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Ventral Pallidum ◽  
Response Patterns ◽  
Reward Seeking ◽  
Reward Delivery ◽  
Seeking Behavior ◽  
Expression Site ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Response Vigor

Despite its being historically conceptualized as a motor expression site, emerging evidence suggests the ventral pallidum (VP) plays a more active role in integrating information to generate motivation. Here, we investigated whether rat VP cue responses would encode and contribute similarly to the vigor of reward-seeking behaviors trained under Pavlovian versus instrumental contingencies, when these behavioral responses consist of superficially similar locomotor response patterns but may reflect distinct underlying decision-making processes. We find that cue-elicited activity in many VP neurons predicts the latency of instrumental reward seeking, but not of Pavlovian response latency. Further, disruption of VP signaling increases the latency of instrumental but not Pavlovian reward seeking. This suggests that VP encoding of and contributions to response vigor are specific to the ability of incentive cues to invigorate reward-seeking behaviors upon which reward delivery is contingent.

scholarly journals Does Prenatal Methamphetamine Exposure Induce Cross-sensitization to Cocaine and Morphine in Adult Male Rats?

2012 ◽  
Vol 113 (3) ◽  
pp. 189-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Romana Šlamberová ◽  
A. Yamamotová ◽  
M. Pometlová ◽  
B. Schutová ◽  
L. Hrubá ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Adult Male ◽  
Analgesic Effect ◽  
Drug Exposure ◽  
Prenatal Drug Exposure ◽  
Male Rats ◽  
Daily Injection ◽  
Challenge Dose ◽  
Drug Seeking ◽  
Seeking Behavior ◽  
Plantar Test

The aim of the present study was to examine the cross-sensitization induced by prenatal methamphetamine (MA) exposure to challenge dose of cocaine or morphine. Rat mothers received a daily injection of MA (5 mg/kg) or saline throughout the gestation period. Adult male offspring (prenatally MA- or saline-exposed) were divided to groups with challenge doses of saline (1 ml/kg), cocaine (5 mg/kg) or morphine (5 mg/kg). Behavior in unknown environment was examined in Laboras, nociception in Plantar test, and active drug-seeking behavior in conditioned place preference (CPP). Our data demonstrate that cocaine increased the exploratory activity in Laboras test in prenatally saline-exposed, but decreased it in prenatally MA-exposed rats. An analgesic effect of cocaine was demonstrated only by the tail withdrawal and it was independent of the prenatal drug exposure. CPP test showed that prenatal MA exposure induced rather tolerance than sensitization to cocaine. In contrast to cocaine effects, morphine decreased rearing activity in both, prenatally MA-exposed and saline-exposed rats, and locomotion only in prenatally MA-exposed rats in the Laboras. In the Plantar test, the results demonstrated that morphine had an analgesic effect in prenatally saline-exposed rats but this effect was suppressed in prenatally MA-exposed rats. In the CPP test morphine induced drug-seeking behavior, which however was not affected by prenatal drug exposure. Thus, our data demonstrate that there is a cross-effect between prenatal MA exposure and the challenge dose of other drug in adulthood, however drug-seeking behavior is not increased by prenatal MA exposure as we expected.

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