title: Α4β2 and α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor binding predicts choice preference in two cost benefit decision-making tasks.
abstract: Nicotinic receptors have been linked to a wide range of cognitive and behavioral functions, but surprisingly little is known about their involvement in cost benefit decision making. The goal of these experiments was to determine how nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) expression is related to two forms of cost benefit decision making. Male Long Evans rats were tested in probability- and delay-discounting tasks, which required discrete trial choices between a small reward and a large reward associated with varying probabilities of omission and varying delays to reward delivery, respectively. Following testing, radioligand binding to α4β2 and α7 nAChR subtypes in brain regions implicated in cost benefit decision making was examined. Significant linear relationships were observed between choice of the large delayed reward in the delay discounting task and α4β2 receptor binding in both the dorsal and ventral hippocampus. Additionally, trends were found suggesting that choice of the large costly reward in both discounting tasks was inversely related to α4β2 receptor binding in the medial prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens shell. Similar trends suggested that choice of the large delayed reward in the delay discounting task was inversely related to α4β2 receptor binding in the orbitofrontal cortex, nucleus accumbens core, and basolateral amygdala, as well as to α7 receptor binding in the basolateral amygdala. These data suggest that nAChRs (particularly α4β2) play both unique and common roles in decisions that require consideration of different types of reward costs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA. imendez@ucla.edu
authors.forename: I A
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Mendez
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Damborsky
authors.forename: U H
authors.initials: UH
authors.lastname: Winzer-Serhan
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Bizon
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Setlow
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000187:drug effects; D001931:Brain Mapping; D019086:Bridged Bicyclo Compounds, Heterocyclic / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D002038:Bungarotoxins / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D007456:Iodine Isotopes / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D008297:Male; D018722:Nicotinic Agonists / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D011336:Probability; D011485:Protein Binding / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D011725:Pyridines / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D051381:Rats; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000187:drug effects; D011978:Receptors, Nicotinic / Q000378:metabolism*; D012201:Reward; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013997:Time Factors; D064569:alpha7 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor
chemical_list: D019086:Bridged Bicyclo Compounds, Heterocyclic; D002038:Bungarotoxins; C579165:Chrna7 protein, rat; D007456:Iodine Isotopes; D018722:Nicotinic Agonists; D011725:Pyridines; D011978:Receptors, Nicotinic; D064569:alpha7 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor; C403531:nicotinic receptor alpha4beta2; C082748:epibatidine