title: Cue-induced food seeking after punishment is associated with increased Fos expression in the lateral hypothalamus and basolateral and medial amygdala.
abstract: In humans, relapse to unhealthy eating habits following dieting is a significant impediment to obesity treatment. Food-associated cues are one of the main triggers of relapse to unhealthy eating during self-imposed abstinence. Here we report a behavioral method examining cue-induced relapse to food seeking following punishment-induced suppression of food taking. We trained male rats to lever press for food pellets that were delivered after a 10-s conditional stimulus (CS) (appetitive). Following training, 25% of reinforced lever presses resulted in the presentation of a compound stimulus consisting of a novel CS (aversive) and the appetitive CS followed by a pellet and footshock. After punishment-imposed abstinence, we tested the rats in an extinction test where lever pressing resulted in the presentation of either the appetitive or aversive CS. We then compared activity of lateral hypothalamus (LH) and associated extrahypothalamic regions following this test. We also assessed Fos expression in LH orexin and GABA neurons. We found that cue-induced relapse of food seeking on test was higher in rats tested with the appetitive CS compared to the aversive CS. Relapse induced by the appetitive CS was associated with increased Fos expression in LH, caudal basolateral amygdala (BLA), and medial amygdala (MeA). This relapse was also associated with increased Fos expression in LH orexin and VGAT-expressing neurons. These data show that relapse to food seeking can be induced by food-associated cues after punishment-imposed abstinence, and this relapse is associated with increased activity in LH, caudal BLA, and MeA. (PsycINFO Database Record
authors.affiliation: Neurobiology of Addiction Laboratory, School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, University of Newcastle.
authors.forename: Erin J
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-4722-6897
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.affiliation: Integrative Neuroscience Research Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse.
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Barker
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Maryland, Baltimore.
authors.forename: Helen M
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-4021-3636
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Nasser
authors.affiliation: Behavioral Neuroscience Research Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse.
authors.forename: Konstantin
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-1577-109X
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kaganovsky
authors.affiliation: Neurobiology of Addiction Laboratory, School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, University of Newcastle.
authors.forename: Christopher V
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-9175-3854
authors.initials: CV
authors.lastname: Dayas
authors.affiliation: Behavioral Neuroscience Research Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse.
authors.forename: Nathan J
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-8269-0532
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Marchant
mesh_terms: D000679:Amygdala / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D003216:Conditioning, Operant; D003463:Cues; D005108:Extinction, Psychological; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D007026:Hypothalamic Area, Lateral / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D000068797:Orexins / Q000378:metabolism; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000378:metabolism; D011678:Punishment; D051381:Rats; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology
chemical_list: D000068797:Orexins; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos