RUI: Dopamine-glutamate synergy in reward evaluation in the extended amygdala and nucleus accumbens

人类经常必须确定其行为的潜在利益，并权衡这些利益与获得这些利益的成本。例如，在食物和住所之间做出选择，一个人可能会考虑他或她有多饿，目前住所的重要性，获得它们需要付出多大的努力，然后根据其中一个选择采取行动。为了做出这些决定，中枢神经系统必须能够计算和比较每个选项的价值。该奖项支持的研究结合了行为学和药理学技术来研究动物模型的决策，特别是计算价值的过程。在这些实验中，大鼠做出杠杆按压反应，以获得对特定大脑区域的高回报电刺激。这种刺激被认为与动物考虑行为选择的价值时产生的大脑活动相同。通过将刺激强度的变化与杠杆按压的相应变化相关联，可以确定大鼠当前对刺激的重视程度。然后，将特定的神经化学物质应用于被认为对计算刺激值和由此产生的对观察到的刺激感知值的影响很重要的大脑区域。这项工作将提供有关哪些神经化学物质和脑细胞参与价值计算的信息，以及最终，这些化学物质和细胞如何在药物成瘾或强迫性消费等情况下不正常地发挥作用。该项目还将为本科生提供培训机会，为国家下一代科学家的发展做出贡献。

Humans frequently must determine the potential benefits of their behavior and weigh those benefits against the cost of obtaining them. For example, given a choice between food and shelter, a person might consider how hungry he or she is, how important shelter is at the moment, how much effort it would take to obtain each, and then act on one of the options. To make these decisions, the central nervous system must be able to calculate and compare the value of each option. The research supported by this award combines behavioral and pharmacological techniques to study an animal model for decision making, and specifically, for the process by which value is computed. In these experiments, rats make a lever press response to obtain highly rewarding electrical stimulation of a particular brain area. This stimulation is thought to produce the same brain activity produced when an animal considers the value of a behavioral option. By correlating changes in the stimulation strength with corresponding changes in lever pressing, one can determine how much value the rat currently puts on the stimulation. Then, specific neurochemicals are applied to the brain areas thought to be important in calculating the stimulation's value and the resulting effects on the stimulation's perceived value observed. This work will yield information about which neurochemicals and brain cells are involved in value calculation, and, ultimately, how these chemicals and cells might function improperly in conditions such as drug addiction or compulsive consumption. The project will also provide training opportunities for undergraduate students contributing to the development of the Nation's next generation of scientists.