Operant behavior to obtain palatable food modifies ERK activity in the brain reward circuit |
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| Authors: | Thomas Guegan Laura Cutando Giuseppe Gangarossa Emanuela Santini Gilberto Fisone Albert Martinez Emmanuel Valjent Rafael Maldonado Miquel Martin |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Laboratori de Neurofarmacologia, Univeristat Pompeu Fabra, PRBB, Barcelona, Spain;2. Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden;3. Departament de Biologia Cellular, Universitat de Barcelona, Institut de Recerca en Biomedicina, Barcelona, CIBERNED, Spain;1. Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA;2. Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA;3. Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA;4. Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, CAS, Hubei, PR China;5. Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA;1. Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA;2. IDDRC, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, and Brain Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA;3. Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, and Brain Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA;1. Department of Neurosciences, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87131, USA;2. Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87185, USA;1. School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Loughborough LE15 5RD, UK;2. School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Nottingham, Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham NG7 2UH, UK;3. Department of Electronics, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK |
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| Abstract: | Food palatability produces behavioral modifications that resemble those induced by drugs of abuse. Palatability-induced behavioral changes require both, the activation of the endogenous cannabinoid system, and changes in structural plasticity in neurons of the brain reward pathway. The ERK intracellular pathway is activated by CB1 receptors (CB1-R) and plays a crucial role in neuroplasticity. We investigated the activation of the ERK signaling cascade in the mesocorticolimbic system induced by operant training to obtain highly palatable isocaloric food and the involvement of the CB1-R in these responses. Using immunofluorescence techniques, we analyzed changes in ERK intracellular pathway activation in the mesocorticolimbic system of wild-type and CB1 knockout mice (CB1?/?) trained on an operant paradigm to obtain standard, highly caloric or highly palatable isocaloric food. Operant training for highly palatable isocaloric food, but not for standard or highly caloric food, produced a robust activation of the ERK signaling cascade in the same brain areas where this training modified structural plasticity. These changes induced by the operant training were absent in CB1?/?. We can conclude that the activation of the ERK pathway is associated to the neuroplasticity induced by operant training for highly palatable isocaloric food and might be involved in CB1-R mediated alterations in behavior and structural plasticity. |
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