Investigating the interaction of motivational systems

动机系统在本质上是紧密调谐的，然而实验室设置往往为了简单起见而将注意力集中在行为的一个方面。食欲调节是一个极其重要的动力系统，解剖出调节这一复杂过程的神经回路，对于我们对抗肥胖和进食相关疾病至关重要。在这里，我们建议研究饥饿和饱足信号如何与其他动机过程（如恐惧和焦虑）相关联。笼子里的啮齿动物通常可以随意进食，但是为了测试饥饿回路，可以让小鼠禁食，或者人工操纵促进饥饿的神经元。小鼠将经历各种范式以加强饥饿信号，并呈现天生驱动焦虑的视觉、听觉和/或嗅觉线索，例如捕食性尿液或入侵动物的存在。像这样的研究将使我们能够解开电路机制整合动机系统，如饥饿与恐惧。我们将在包括位置偏好和社交性测试在内的许多行为范例中使用表达Cre的小鼠（AGRP、POMC、MC 4 R）以及Cre依赖性AAV载体（ChR 2、hM 3dq、突触素）的文库。

Motivational systems are tightly tuned in nature, however laboratory settings tend to focus attention toward one aspect of behavior for simplicity purposes. Appetite regulation is an extremely vital motivational system and dissecting out the neural circuits regulating this complex process is imperative in our fight against obesity and feeding-associated diseases. Here, we are proposing to study how hunger and satiety signals are associated with other motivational processes such as fear and anxiety. Caged rodents are normally presented with food ad libitum, however to test hunger circuits, mice can be fasted or alternatively hunger-promoting neurons can be artificially manipulated. Mice will undergo various paradigms to strengthen hunger signals and presented with visual, auditory and/or olfactory cues that innately drive anxiety, such as the presence of predatory urine or an intruder animal. Studies such as these will allow us to unravel circuit mechanisms integrating motivational systems such as hunger versus fear. We will use a library of Cre-expressing mice (AGRP, POMC, MC4R) as well as Cre-dependent AAV-vectors (ChR2, hM3dq, synaptophysin) in a number of behavioral paradigms including place preference and sociability tests.