Neural Mechansims of Oil Reward

描述(由申请人提供)：脂肪是一种关键的、高度受欢迎的常量营养素，也是目前肥胖流行的主要因素之一。尽管降低美国人饮食中脂肪的比例是当务之急，但由于我们对脂肪的感官和有益特性的理解不足，这一努力受到了阻碍。对石油奖励的核心基础的欣赏，有待于对脂肪和石油感知的感官基础有更好的理解。脂肪和油的检测、辨别，甚至吸引力都被推定在体感系统的范围内，但最近发现脂肪酸激活味觉感受器细胞，这表明味觉系统也起到了作用。目标1的实验将测试油和油/水乳剂刺激支配舌头的味觉和体感神经的个体触觉、味觉和热纤维的能力。具体目标2和3将确定调节油的享乐性价值的前脑结构。Aim 2的实验将结合伏隔核多巴胺释放与中枢味觉和三叉神经损伤的测量，以确定参与石油奖励的中央通路。Aim 3的实验将使用功能依赖变量c-Fos来识别与石油奖励有关的其他途径和核。拟议中的实验是创新的，因为从未研究过油的感觉神经和奖励特性。这项研究很重要，因为脂肪和油脂在美国人的饮食中所占的比例很大，而且还在不断增加。为了抑制我们对高脂肪食物的胃口，我们必须了解嗅觉设备是如何检测脂肪和油的，以及大脑是如何利用这种感觉神经信息来确定石油奖励的性质的。这些问题的解决将使我们和其他味觉和营养领域的研究人员能够研究饮食脂肪和油对涉及食欲和饱腹感的大脑区域的影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Fat is a critical, highly preferred macronutrient and one of the major contributing factors to the current obesity epidemic. Although reducing the percentage of fat in the American diet is a high priority, this effort has been hindered by our poor understanding of fats sensory and rewarding properties. An appreciation for the central basis of oil reward awaits a better understanding of the sensory basis of fat and oil perception. Detection, discrimination, and even the appeal of fats and oils have been presumed to be within the purview of the somatosensory system, but the recent finding that fatty acids activate taste receptor cells suggests that the gustatory system plays a role as well. The experiments of Aim 1 will examine the ability of oils and oil/water emulsions to stimulate individual tactile, taste, and thermal fibers of the gustatory and somatosensory nerves that innervate the tongue. Specific Aims 2 and 3 will identify the forebrain structures that mediate the hedonic value of oil. The experiments of Aim 2 will combine measurements of dopamine release within nucleus accumbens with central gustatory and trigeminal lesions to identify the central pathways involved in oil reward. The experiments of Aim 3 will use a functional dependent variable, c-Fos, to identify additional pathways and nuclei involved with oil reward. The proposed experiments are innovative because the sensorineural and rewarding properties of oil have never been investigated. This research is important because fats and oils represent a significant and increasing percentage of the American diet. In order to curtail our appetite for high fat foods, we must understand how fats and oils are detected by the orosensory apparatus and how this sensorineural information is used by the brain to determine the nature of oil reward. Resolution of these issues will permit us and other investigators in the fields of taste and nutrition to examine the effect of dietary fat and oil on brain areas involved with appetite and satiety.