Abstract
The attribution of incentive salience to reward-predictive stimuli has been shown to be associated with substance abuse-like behavior such as increased drug taking. Evidence suggests that glutamate neurotransmission and sequential N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) activation are involved in the attribution of incentive salience. Here, we further explore the role of second-by-second glutamate neurotransmission in the attribution of incentive salience to reward-predictive stimuli by measuring sign-tracking behavior during a Pavlovian conditioned approach procedure using ceramic-based microelectrode arrays configured for sensitive measures of extracellular glutamate in awake behaving Sprague-Dawley rats. Specifically, we show that there is an increase in extracellular glutamate levels in the prelimbic cortex (PrL) and the nucleus accumbens core (NAcC) during sign-tracking behavior to a food-predictive conditioned stimulus (CS+) compared to the presentation of a non-predictive conditioned stimulus (CS−). Furthermore, the results indicate greater increases in extracellular glutamate levels in the PrL compared to NAcC in response to the CS+, including differences in glutamate release and signal decay. Taken together, the present research suggests that there is differential glutamate signaling in the NAcC and PrL during sign-tracking behavior to a food-predictive CS+. (Figure presented.).
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 276-286 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Journal of Neurochemistry |
Volume | 145 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - May 2018 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2018 International Society for Neurochemistry
Funding
The authors thank Josh Lavy for his technical assistance. This research was funded by NIDA grant DA033373. GAG is the principal owner of Quanteon, LLC that manufactures the FAST recording system. The remaining authors have nothing to disclose.
Funders | Funder number |
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National Institute on Drug Abuse | R00DA033373 |
Keywords
- glutamate
- incentive salience
- nucleus accumbens
- pavlovian conditioned approach
- prelimbic cortex
- sign-tracking
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Biochemistry
- Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience