Intra-Accumbens Baclofen, But Not Muscimol, Increases Second Order Instrumental Responding for Food Reward in Rats

Stimulation of either GABAA or GABAB receptors within the nucleus accumbens shell strongly enhances food intake in rats. However the effects of subtype-selective stimulation of GABA receptors on instrumental responses for food reward are less well characterized. Here we contrast the effects of the GABAA receptor agonist muscimol and GABAB receptor agonist baclofen on instrumental responding for food using a second order reinforcement schedule. Bilateral intra-accumbens administration of baclofen (220–440 pmol) stimulated responding but a higher dose (660 pmol) induced stereotyped oral behaviour that interfered with responding. Baclofen (220–660 pmol) also stimulated intake of freely available chow. Muscimol (220–660 pmol) was without effect on responding for food on this schedule but did stimulate intake of freely available chow. Unilateral administration of either baclofen or muscimol (220 pmol) induced similar patterns of c-fos immunoreactivity in several hypothalamic sites but differed in its induction in the central nucleus of the amygdala. We conclude that stimulation of GABAA or GABAB receptors in the nucleus accumbens shell of rats produces clearly distinguishable effects on operant responding for food.

• Publication year

  2012

• Venue

  PLoS ONE

• Publication date

  2012-07-09

• Fields of study

  Biology, Medicine

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0040057PMID 22808090PMCID 3392280
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• Effects of muscimol, amphetamine, and DAMGO injected into the nucleus accumbens shell on food-reinforced lever pressing by undeprived rats.

  2012influential reference
• GABAB receptor modulation of synaptic function.

  2011cited by this paper
• Extrasynaptic δ-containing GABAA receptors in the nucleus accumbens dorsomedial shell contribute to alcohol intake

  2011cited by this paper
• Disentangling pleasure from incentive salience and learning signals in brain reward circuitry

  2011cited by this paper
• Intra-accumbens baclofen, but not muscimol, mimics the effects of food withdrawal on feeding behaviour.

  2010cited by this paper
• Desire and Dread from the Nucleus Accumbens: Cortical Glutamate and Subcortical GABA Differentially Generate Motivation and Hedonic Impact in the Rat

  2010cited by this paper
• Evidence for motivational effects elicited by activation of GABA-A or dopamine receptors in the nucleus accumbens shell.

  2010influential reference
• Which Cue to “Want?” Central Amygdala Opioid Activation Enhances and Focuses Incentive Salience on a Prepotent Reward Cue

  2009cited by this paper
• Amount of training and cue-evoked taste-reactivity responding in reinforcer devaluation.

  2008cited by this paper
• Emotional environments retune the valence of appetitive versus fearful functions in nucleus accumbens

  2008cited by this paper
• Inhibitions of Nucleus Accumbens Neurons Encode a Gating Signal for Reward-Directed Behavior

  2006cited by this paper
• Glutamate and GABA receptors and transporters in the basal ganglia: what does their subsynaptic localization reveal about their function?

  2006cited by this paper
• Neural systems implicated in delayed and probabilistic reinforcement

  2006cited by this paper
• Parallel incentive processing: an integrated view of amygdala function.

  2006cited by this paper
• UC San Francisco UC San Francisco Previously Published Works Title Encoding of palatability and appetitive behaviors by distinct neuronal populations in the nucleus accumbens

  2005cited by this paper
• The cannabinoid CB1 receptor antagonist SR141716A reduces appetitive and consummatory responses for food

  2005cited by this paper
• Corticostriatal-hypothalamic circuitry and food motivation: integration of energy, action and reward.

  2005cited by this paper
• Origins of lateral hypothalamic afferents associated with N-methyl-d-aspartic acid-elicited eating studied using reverse microdialysis of NMDA and Fluorogold.

  2005cited by this paper
• Activation of feeding-related neural circuitry after unilateral injections of muscimol into the nucleus accumbens shell.

  2005influential reference
• Functional diversity and specificity of neostriatal interneurons.

  2004cited by this paper
• GABAergic microcircuits in the neostriatum.

  2004cited by this paper
• Increases in food intake or food-seeking behavior induced by GABAergic, opioid, or dopaminergic stimulation of the nucleus accumbens: is it hunger?

  2004cited by this paper
• Cortex, striatum and cerebellum: control of serial order in a grooming sequence

  2004cited by this paper
• Molecular Structure and Physiological Functions of GABAB Receptors

  2004cited by this paper
• Activation of a subpopulation of orexin/hypocretin‐containing hypothalamic neurons by GABAA receptor‐mediated inhibition of the nucleus accumbens shell, but not by exposure to a novel environment

  2004influential reference
• Molecular structure and physiological functions of GABA(B) receptors.

  2004cited by this paper
• Overlapping distributions of orexin/hypocretin‐ and dopamine‐β‐hydroxylase immunoreactive fibers in rat brain regions mediating arousal, motivation, and stress

  2003cited by this paper
• Nucleus accumbens opioid, GABaergic, and dopaminergic modulation of palatable food motivation: contrasting effects revealed by a progressive ratio study in the rat.

  2003cited by this paper
• Extended Amygdala and Basal Forebrain

  2003cited by this paper
• Multiple neural systems controlling food intake and body weight.

  2002cited by this paper
• The need to feed: homeostatic and hedonic control of eating.

  2002cited by this paper
• Differential expression of GABABR1 and GABABR2 receptor immunoreactivity in neurochemically identified neurons of the rat neostriatum

  2001cited by this paper
• Fear and Feeding in the Nucleus Accumbens Shell: Rostrocaudal Segregation of GABA-Elicited Defensive Behavior Versus Eating Behavior

  2001cited by this paper
• Cerebral hemisphere regulation of motivated behavior.

  2000cited by this paper
• Intraaccumbens baclofen selectively enhances feeding behavior in the rat.

  2000cited by this paper
• Synaptic organisation of the basal ganglia

  2000cited by this paper
• Induction of c‐Fos‐like and FosB‐like immunoreactivity reveals forebrain neuronal populations involved differentially in pup‐mediated maternal behavior in juvenile and adult rats

  2000cited by this paper
• The Synaptic Framework for Chemical Signaling in Nucleus Accumbens

  1999cited by this paper
• Evidence of a Functional Relationship between the Nucleus Accumbens Shell and Lateral Hypothalamus Subserving the Control of Feeding Behavior

  1999cited by this paper
• Feeding induced by GABA(A) receptor stimulation within the nucleus accumbens shell: regional mapping and characterization of macronutrient and taste preference.

  1999cited by this paper
• Is the short-latency dopamine response too short to signal reward error?

  1999cited by this paper
• Neurons Containing Hypocretin (Orexin) Project to Multiple Neuronal Systems

  1998cited by this paper
• Electrophysiology of the Hippocampal and Amygdaloid Projections to the Nucleus Accumbens of the Rat: Convergence, Segregation, and Interaction of Inputs

  1998cited by this paper
• Efferent projections of the nucleus accumbens in the rat with special reference to subdivision of the nucleus: biotinylated dextran amine study.

  1998cited by this paper
• The morphological and chemical characteristics of striatal neurons immunoreactive for the alpha1-subunit of the GABA(A) receptor in the rat.

  1997cited by this paper
• GABA in the Nucleus Accumbens Shell Participates in the Central Regulation of Feeding Behavior

  1997influential reference
• Neurochemical Interactions in the Control of Ingestive Behaviour

  1996cited by this paper
• Distribution of fos‐like immunoreactivity in the rat brain following intravenous lipopolysaccharide administration

  1996cited by this paper
• Cellular organization of lateral hypothalamic efferents to the central amygdaloid nucleus of the rat

  1996cited by this paper
• Lateral hypothalamic NMDA receptors and glutamate as physiological mediators of eating and weight control.

  1996cited by this paper
• Neurophysiology of converging synaptic inputs from the rat prefrontal cortex, amygdala, midline thalamus, and hippocampal formation onto single neurons of the caudate/putamen and nucleus accumbens

  1996cited by this paper
• Synaptic interactions among excitatory afferents to nucleus accumbens neurons: hippocampal gating of prefrontal cortical input

  1995cited by this paper
• The nucleus accumbens as a complex of functionally distinct neuronal ensembles: an integration of behavioural, electrophysiological and anatomical data.

  1994cited by this paper
• The perifornical area: the major focus of (a) patchily distributed hypothalamic neuropeptide Y-sensitive feeding system(s).

  1993cited by this paper
• What psychological process mediates feeding evoked by electrical stimulation of the lateral hypothalamus?

  1991cited by this paper
• Specificity in the projection patterns of accumbal core and shell in the rat.

  1991influential reference
• Palatability Shift of a Salt-Associated Incentive during Sodium Depletion

  1989cited by this paper
• The Rat Brain in Stereotaxic Coordinates

  1983influential reference
• From motivation to action: functional interface between the limbic system and the motor system.

  1980cited by this paper
• STRUCTURE‐ACTIVITY STUDIES ON THE INHIBITION OF GABA BINDING TO RAT BRAIN MEMBRANES BY MUSCIMOL AND RELATED COMPOUNDS

  1978cited by this paper
• Reexamination of the role of the hypothalamus in motivation.

  1970cited by this paper

• Medial Nucleus Accumbens Projections to the Ventral Tegmental Area Control Food Consumption

  2020cites this paper
• Primate ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the physiological and behavioural dysfunction characteristic of mood and anxiety disorders

  2019cites this paper
• Anti-addictive properties of COR659 - Additional pharmacological evidence and comparison with a series of novel analogues.

  2019cites this paper
• Suppressing effect of COR659 on alcohol, sucrose, and chocolate self-administration in rats: involvement of the GABAB and cannabinoid CB1 receptors

  2017cites this paper
• Neural circuits of eating behaviour: Opportunities for therapeutic development

  2017cites this paper
• Food hoarding, but not food intake, is attenuated by acute diazepam treatment in female Mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus).

  2014cites this paper
• Genetic and pharmacological investigation of α4-containing GABAA receptors in conditioned behaviours influenced by cocaine

  2014cites this paper
• Mesocorticolimbic Generation of Desire and Dread along a Rostrocaudal Gradient in Medial Shell of Nucleus Accumbens.

  2012cites this paper