title: Brainstem mediates diazepam enhancement of palatability and feeding: microinjections into fourth ventricle versus lateral ventricle.
abstract: The hypothesis that benzodiazepine-induced hyperphagia is due to a specific enhancement of the palatability of foods has been supported by previous 'taste reactivity' studies of affective (hedonic and aversive) reactions to taste palatability. Diazepam and chlordiazepoxide enhance hedonic reactions of rats (rhythmic tongue protrusions, etc.) to sweet tastes in a receptor-specific fashion. A role for brainstem circuits has been indicated by a previous demonstration of the persistence of the taste reactivity enhancement by diazepam after midbrain decerebration. The present study examined whether benzodiazepine brainstem receptors are the chief substrates for palatability enhancement even in intact brains. We compared the effectiveness of benzodiazepine microinjections to elicit feeding and enhance hedonic reactions when delivered into either the lateral ventricle (forebrain) or the fourth ventricle (brainstem) of rats. The results show diazepam is reliably more effective at eliciting feeding and enhancing positive hedonic reactions to oral sucrose when microinjections are made in the fourth ventricle than in the lateral ventricle. We conclude that brainstem neural systems containing benzodiazepine-GABA receptors are likely to be the chief substrates for benzodiazepine-induced palatability enhancement.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 48109-1109, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Peciña
authors.forename: K C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Berridge
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D002552:Cerebral Ventricles / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D002707:Chlordiazepoxide / Q000494:pharmacology; D003975:Diazepam / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000187:drug effects*; D005260:Female; D007276:Injections, Intraventricular; D008845:Microinjections; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects; D009928:Organ Specificity; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013395:Sucrose; D013649:Taste; D014741:Video Recording
chemical_list: D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents; D013395:Sucrose; D002707:Chlordiazepoxide; D003975:Diazepam