Neural Mechansims of Oil Reward

描述（由申请人提供）：脂肪是一种重要的，高度首选的常量营养素，也是当前肥胖流行的主要因素之一。虽然减少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奖励特性了解不足，这一努力受到了阻碍。对油奖励的中心基础的欣赏，需要对脂肪和油感知的感官基础有更好的理解。人们一直认为，对脂肪和油脂的检测、辨别甚至吸引力都在体感觉系统的范围内，但最近发现脂肪酸能激活味觉受体细胞，这表明味觉系统也起着作用。Aim 1的实验将检验油和油/水乳液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将确定调解石油享乐价值的前脑结构。Aim 2的实验将结合伏隔核内多巴胺释放与中枢味觉和三叉神经损伤的测量，以确定参与油奖励的中枢通路。Aim 3的实验将使用功能因变量c-Fos来识别与油奖励有关的其他途径和核。提出的实验是创新的，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，因为脂肪和油在美国人的饮食中所占的比例越来越大。为了减少我们对高脂肪食物的胃口，我们必须了解脂肪和油是如何被口腔感觉器官检测到的，以及大脑是如何利用这些感觉神经信息来确定油的奖励性质的。这些问题的解决将使我们和其他味觉和营养学领域的研究人员能够研究饮食中的脂肪和油对大脑中与食欲和饱腹感有关的区域的影响。

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.