title: What and when to "want"? Amygdala-based focusing of incentive salience upon sugar and sex.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Amygdala-related circuitry helps translate learned Pavlovian associations into appetitive and aversive motivation, especially upon subsequent encounters with cues.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We asked whether μ-opioid stimulation via microinjections of the specific agonist D-Ala(2), N-MePhe(4), Gly-ol)-enkephalin (DAMGO) in central nucleus of amygdala (CeA), or the adjacent basolateral amygdala (BLA) would magnify sucrose or sex "wanting", guided by available cues.
  
  
  METHODS
  CeA or BLA DAMGO enhancement of cue-triggered "wanting" was assessed using Pavlovian to instrumental transfer (PIT). Unconditioned food "wanting" was measured via intake, and male sexual "wanting" for an estrous female was measured in a sexual approach test. Sucrose hedonic taste "liking" was measured in a taste reactivity test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  CeA (but not BLA) DAMGO increased the intensity of phasic peaks in instrumental sucrose seeking stimulated by Pavlovian cues over precue levels in PIT, while suppressing seeking at other moments. CeA DAMGO also enhanced food intake, as well as sexual approach and investigation of an estrous female by males. DAMGO "wanting" enhancements were localized to CeA, as indicated by "Fos plume"-based anatomical maps for DAMGO causation of behavioral effects. Despite increasing "wanting", CeA DAMGO decreased the hedonic impact or "liking" for sucrose in a taste reactivity paradigm.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  CeA μ-opioid stimulation specifically enhances incentive salience, which is dynamically guided to food or sex by available cues.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA. mahler@musc.edu
authors.forename: Stephen V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Mahler
authors.forename: Kent C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Berridge
mesh_terms: D000679:Amygdala / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D000701:Analgesics, Opioid / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects*; D003463:Cues; D004435:Eating / Q000187:drug effects; D020875:Enkephalin, Ala(2)-MePhe(4)-Gly(5)- / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004971:Estrus / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D017450:Receptors, Opioid, mu / Q000819:agonists* / Q000378:metabolism; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects; D013395:Sucrose / Q000008:administration & dosage
chemical_list: D000701:Analgesics, Opioid; D017450:Receptors, Opioid, mu; D020875:Enkephalin, Ala(2)-MePhe(4)-Gly(5)-; D013395:Sucrose