title: A food-predictive cue attributed with incentive salience engages subcortical afferents and efferents of the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus.
abstract: The paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) has been implicated in behavioral responses to reward-associated cues. However, the precise role of the PVT in these behaviors has been difficult to ascertain since Pavlovian-conditioned cues can act as both predictive and incentive stimuli. The "sign-tracker/goal-tracker" rat model has allowed us to further elucidate the role of the PVT in cue-motivated behaviors, identifying this structure as a critical component of the neural circuitry underlying individual variation in the propensity to attribute incentive salience to reward cues. The current study assessed differences in the engagement of specific PVT afferents and efferents in response to presentation of a food-cue that had been attributed with only predictive value or with both predictive and incentive value. The retrograde tracer fluorogold (FG) was injected into the PVT or the nucleus accumbens (NAc) of rats, and cue-induced c-Fos in FG-labeled cells was quantified. Presentation of a predictive stimulus that had been attributed with incentive value elicited c-Fos in PVT afferents from the lateral hypothalamus, medial amygdala (MeA), and the prelimbic cortex (PrL), as well as posterior PVT efferents to the NAc. PVT afferents from the PrL also showed elevated c-Fos levels following presentation of a predictive stimulus alone. Thus, presentation of an incentive stimulus results in engagement of subcortical brain regions; supporting a role for the hypothalamic-thalamic-striatal axis, as well as the MeA, in mediating responses to incentive stimuli; whereas activity in the PrL to PVT pathway appears to play a role in processing the predictive qualities of reward-paired stimuli.
authors: Neuroscience Graduate Program, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States.
authors: Joshua L
authors: JL
authors: Haight
authors: Undergraduate Program in Neuroscience, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States.
authors: Zachary L
authors: ZL
authors: Fuller
authors: Undergraduate Program in Neuroscience, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States.
authors: Kurt M
authors: KM
authors: Fraser
authors: Neuroscience Graduate Program, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States; Undergraduate Program in Neuroscience, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States; Department of Psychiatry, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States; Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Institute, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States. Electronic address: sflagel@umich.edu.
authors: Shelly B
authors: SB
authors: Flagel
mesh_terms: D000679:Amygdala / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D059031:Anticipation, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D003463:Cues; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D005502:Food; D006040:Goals; D008297:Male; D020644:Midline Thalamic Nuclei / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D009042:Motivation / Q000502:physiology; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D009714:Nucleus Accumbens / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000378:metabolism; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012201:Reward
chemical_list: D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos
keywords: goal-tracking; incentive salience; motivated behavior; paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus; sign-tracking