scholarly journals Stress-impaired reward pathway promotes distinct feeding behavior patterns

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yusuke Fujioka ◽  
Kaori Kawai ◽  
Kuniyuki Endo ◽  
Minaka Ishibashi ◽  
Nobuyuki Iwade ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nucleus Accumbens ◽  
Feeding Behavior ◽  
Psychosocial Stress ◽  
Physical Restraint ◽  
Psychosocial Stressors ◽  
Behavior Patterns ◽  
Nucleus Accumbens Shell ◽  
Critical Pathway ◽  
Neuropsychiatric Diseases ◽  
The Impact

Psychosocial stress can impact feeding behavior outcomes. Although many studies have examined alterations to food intake, little is known about how stress affects feeding behavior patterns. To determine the impact of psychological stress on feeding behavior patterns, mice were subjected to various psychosocial stressors (social isolation, intermittent high-fat-diet, or physical restraint) prior to timed observations in a feeding arena that incorporated multiple bait loci. In addition, in vivo microdialysis was used to assess the effects of stressors on the reward system by measuring dopamine levels in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) shell. Impaired feeding behavior patterns characterized by significant deviations in bait selection (i.e. fixated feeding) and prolonged periods of eating (i.e. protracted feeding) were observed in stressed mice relative to non-stressed controls. In addition to clear behavioral effects, the stressors also negatively impacted dopamine levels at the nucleus accumbens shell. Normalization of dopamine reversed the fixated feeding behavior, whereas specifically inhibiting neuronal activity in the dopaminergic neurons of the ventral tegmental area that project to the nucleus accumbens shell caused similar impairments in feeding. Given that the deviations were not consistently accompanied by changes in the amount of bait consumed, body weight, or metabolic factors, the qualitative effects of psychosocial stressors on feeding behavior likely reflect perturbations to a critical pathway in the mesolimbic dopamine system. These findings provide compelling evidence that aberrations in feeding behavior patterns can be developed as sensitive biomarkers of psychosocial stress and possibly a prodromal state of neuropsychiatric diseases.

scholarly journals Psychosocial Stress and Overweight and Obesity: Findings From the Chicago Community Adult Health Study

2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (11) ◽  
pp. NP-NP ◽  
Author(s):  
Adolfo G Cuevas ◽  
Ruijia Chen ◽  
Katherine A Thurber ◽  
Natalie Slopen ◽  
David R Williams
Keyword(s):  
Psychosocial Stress ◽  
Overweight And Obesity ◽  
Financial Strain ◽  
Cumulative Exposure ◽  
Health Study ◽  
Psychosocial Stressors ◽  
Adult Health ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Community Adult

AbstractBackgroundPsychosocial stress has been implicated as a risk factor for overweight and obesity. However, research on psychosocial stressors and overweight and obesity has typically focused on single stressors in isolation, which may overestimate the impact of a specific stressor and fail to describe the role of cumulative stress on overweight and obesity risk.PurposeThis study explores the association between overweight/obesity and cumulative exposure to a wide range of psychosocial stressors, among a multiracial/ethnic sample of adults.MethodsUsing secondary data from the Chicago Community Adult Health Study (n = 2,983), we conducted multinomial logistic regression analyses to quantify associations between eight psychosocial stressors, individually and in combination, and measured overweight and obesity, adjusted for sociodemographic factors, alcohol use and smoking.ResultsIn separated covariate-adjusted models, childhood adversities (odds ratio [OR] = 1.16; confidence interval [CI] = [1.03, 1.30]), acute life events (OR = 1.18; CI = [1.04, 1.34]), financial strain (OR = 1.30; CI = [1.15, 1.47]), and relationship stressors (OR = 1.18; CI = [1.04, 1.35]) were associated with increased odds of obesity. In a model adjusted for all stressors simultaneously, financial strain was the only stressor independently associated with overweight (OR = 1.17; CI = [1.00, 1.36]) and obesity (OR = 1.21; CI = [1.05, 1.39]). Participants with stress exposure in the highest quintile across 2, 3, or ≥4 (compared to no) types of stressors had significantly higher odds of obesity.ConclusionsMultiple types of stressors may be risk factors for obesity, and cumulative exposure to these stressors may increase the odds of obesity. Reducing exposure to stressors at the population level may have the potential to contribute to reducing the burden of obesity.

scholarly journals Differential effects of acute and repeated stress on hippocampus and amygdala inputs to the nucleus accumbens shell

2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (9) ◽  
pp. 2013-2025 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn M. Gill ◽  
Anthony A. Grace
Keyword(s):  
Nucleus Accumbens ◽  
Basolateral Amygdala ◽  
Acute Stress ◽  
Evoked Responses ◽  
Nucleus Accumbens Shell ◽  
Afferent Pathways ◽  
Repeated Stress ◽  
Repeated Restraint Stress ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The basolateral amygdala (BLA) and ventral subiculum (vSub) of the hippocampus convey emotion and context information, respectively, to the nucleus accumbens (NAc). Using in vivo extracellular recordings from NAc neurons, we examined how acute and repeated restraint stress alters the plasticity of the vSub and BLA afferent pathways. High-frequency (HFS) and low-frequency (LFS) stimulation was applied to the vSub to assess the impact on NAc responses to vSub and BLA inputs. In addition, iontophoretic application of the dopamine D2-antagonist sulpiride was used to explore the role of dopamine in the NAc in mediating the effects of stress on plasticity. Acute and repeated restraint caused disparate effects on BLA- and vSub-evoked responses in the NAc. Following repeated restraint, but not after acute restraint, HFS of the vSub failed to potentiate the vSub–NAc pathway while instead promoting a long-lasting reduction of the BLA–NAc pathway and these effects were independent of D2-receptor activity. In contrast, LFS to the vSub pathway after acute restraint resulted in potentiation in the vSub–NAc pathway while BLA-evoked responses were unchanged. When sulpiride was applied prior to LFS of the vSub after acute stress, there was a pronounced decrease in vSub-evoked responses similar to control animals. This work provides new insight into the impact of acute and repeated stress on the integration of context and emotion inputs in the NAc. These data support a model of stress whereby the hippocampus is inappropriately activated and dominates the information processing within this circuit via a dopaminergic mechanism after acute bouts of stress.

scholarly journals The Ethanol Metabolite Acetic Acid Activates Mouse Nucleus Accumbens Shell Medium Spiny Neurons

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew D. Chapp ◽  
Paul G Mermelstein ◽  
Mark J Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Acetic Acid ◽  
Nucleus Accumbens ◽  
Neuronal Excitability ◽  
Ethanol Consumption ◽  
Synaptic Activity ◽  
Medium Spiny Neurons ◽  
Nucleus Accumbens Shell ◽  
Spiny Neurons ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Reward Circuit

While ethanol consumption leads to an array of neurophysiological alterations involving the neural circuits for reward, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Acetic acid is a major metabolite of ethanol with high bioactivity and potentially significant pharmacological importance in regulating brain function. Yet the impact of acetic acid on reward circuit function has not been well explored. Given the rewarding properties associated with ethanol consumption, we investigated the acute effects of ethanol and/or acetic acid on the neurophysiological function of medium spiny neurons of the nucleus accumbens shell, a key node in the mammalian reward circuit. We find that acetic acid, but not ethanol, provided a rapid and robust boost in neuronal excitability at physiologically relevant concentrations, while both compounds enhanced glutamatergic synaptic activity. These effects were consistent across both sexes in C57BL/6J mice. Overall, our data suggest acetic acid is a promising candidate mediator for ethanol effects on mood and motivation that deserves further investigation.

Supporting Youth With Autism Learning Social Competence: A Comparison of Game- and Nongame-Based Activities in 3D Virtual World

2021 ◽  
pp. 073563312110220
Author(s):  
Xianhui Wang ◽  
Wanli Xing
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Social Competence ◽  
Central Element ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Virtual Learning Environment ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
Behavior Patterns ◽  
Interaction Behavior ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Impact

This study explored youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) learning social competence in the context of innovative 3D virtual learning environment and the effects of gaming as a central element of the learning experience. The empirical study retrospectively compared the social interactions of 11 adolescents with ASD in game-and nongame-based 3D collaborative learning activities in the same social competence training curriculum. We employed a learning analytics approach - association rule mining to uncover the associative rules of verbal social interaction and nonverbal social interaction contributors from the large dataset of the coded social behaviors. By comparing the rules across the game and nongame activities, we found a significant difference in youth with ASD’s social performance. The results of the group comparison study indicated that the co-occurrence of verbal and nonverbal behaviors is much stronger in the game-based learning activities. The game activities also yielded more diverse social interaction behavior patterns. On the other hand, in the nongame activities, students’ social interaction behavior patterns are much more limited. Furthermore, the impact of game design principles on learning is then discussed in this paper.

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