title: Involvement of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex in high-fat food conditioning in adolescent mice.
abstract: Our hypothesis is that direct targeting of brain areas involved in the perception of food as a rewarding stimulus accounts for initial hyperphagia caused by high-fat food (HFD). Because adolescents are more sensitive than adults to HFD, studies were performed in five-week old male mice. We analyzed the effect of acute exposition to HFD on c-Fos immunolabeling and we observed that this diet selectively increased c-Fos immunolabeling in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (PFC). Furthermore HFD triggered strong and long-lasting conditioned place-preference (CPP) behavior. We also found that the strength of conditioning correlated with the up-regulation of the expression of genes involved in dopaminergic transmission together with a decreased expression of the Per2 gene in the CPF. Our data are coherent with the involvement of the dorsomedial PFC in the perception of HFD as a positive reinforcer and suggest that sensory stimuli activate this brain area after HFD intake.
authors: Departamento de Ciencias Farmacéuticas y de la, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad CEU-San Pablo, Madrid, Spain.
authors: Danila
authors: D
authors: Del Rio
authors: Departamento de Ciencias Farmacéuticas y de la, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad CEU-San Pablo, Madrid, Spain.
authors: Victoria
authors: V
authors: Cano
authors: Departamento de Ciencias Farmacéuticas y de la, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad CEU-San Pablo, Madrid, Spain.
authors: Miriam
authors: M
authors: Martín-Ramos
authors: Departamento de Ciencias Farmacéuticas y de la, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad CEU-San Pablo, Madrid, Spain.
authors: Mariano
authors: M
authors: Gómez
authors: Departamento de Ciencias Farmacéuticas y de la, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad CEU-San Pablo, Madrid, Spain.
authors: Lidia
authors: L
authors: Morales
authors: Departamento de Ciencias Farmacéuticas y de la, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad CEU-San Pablo, Madrid, Spain.
authors: Nuria
authors: N
authors: Del Olmo
authors: Departamento de Ciencias Farmacéuticas y de la, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad CEU-San Pablo, Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: ruigayo@ceu.es.
authors: Mariano
authors: M
authors: Ruiz-Gayo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001070:Appetitive Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D059305:Diet, High-Fat; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000008:administration & dosage; D007328:Insulin / Q000097:blood; D020738:Leptin / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D056950:Period Circadian Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000502:physiology*; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000378:metabolism; D013037:Spatial Behavior / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D004041:Dietary Fats; D007328:Insulin; D020738:Leptin; C513312:Per2 protein, mouse; D056950:Period Circadian Proteins; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos
keywords: Clock gene; Dopamine receptor; Food-seeking behavior; Motivation; Tyrosine hydroxylase; c-Fos