Neuromodulation of excessive reward-directed behavior

描述(由申请人提供)： 该项目将探索蜜蜂中涉及奖赏感知和奖赏寻求行为的分子途径。大多数滥用药物侵占了涉及愉悦和寻求奖励的神经回路；辨别奖励是如何在大脑中处理的，对于理解滥用药物如何产生成瘾行为至关重要。觅食蜜蜂表现出一种受社会反馈调节的过度追求奖励的驱动力，我们将把它作为研究社会背景下奖励动机的自然模型。觅食者表演象征性的舞蹈，向蜂群伙伴传达他们对觅食之旅的盈利能力的估计。舞蹈语言是对奖赏质量的“陈述性”报告，为研究简单动物模型中的奖赏知觉提供了一个独特的系统。我们将1.研究生物胺如何调节蜜蜂的奖赏导向行为。初步结果显示有胺能参与。我们将结合药物治疗与舞蹈和觅食行为的分析，研究多巴胺、5-羟色胺和章鱼碱如何促进蜜蜂的奖赏感知和奖赏追求驱动。2.研究可卡因如何扭曲蜜蜂的奖励过程和社会行为。我们将研究低剂量的可卡因如何误导觅食努力，对觅食努力的社会反馈的敏感度，以及通过舞蹈报告的奖励感知。本研究的主要意义在于，它将为研究简单神经系统中过度奖赏定向行为的分子通路建立一个新的模型体系。这将为蜜蜂利用新的和新兴的基因组技术详细探索奖励处理中确定的途径奠定基础，进一步发展蜜蜂模型系统。在整个动物界，神经系统功能在分子水平上的广泛保守表明，我们旨在阐明的蜜蜂奖励编码原理将具有普遍的相关性。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This project will explore the molecular pathways involved in reward perception and reward-seeking behavior in the honey bee. Most drugs of abuse usurp neural circuitry involved in pleasure and reward seeking; discerning how reward is processed in the brain is essential for understanding how drugs of abuse generate addictive behavior. Forager bees express an excessive reward-seeking drive that is regulated by social feedback, and we will develop this as a natural model for studying reward motivation in a social context. Foragers perform symbolic dances that communicate their estimation of the profitability of their foraging trip to hive-mates. The dance language is a 'declarative' report of reward quality providing a unique system to study reward perception in a simple animal model. We will 1. examine how the biogenic amines modulate reward-directed behavior in the bee. Preliminary results indicate aminergic involvement. We will combine pharmacological treatments with assays of dance and foraging behavior to examine how dopamine, serotonin and octopaine contribute to reward perception and reward-seeking drive in the bee. 2. examine how cocaine distorts reward processing and social behavior in bees. We will study how low doses of cocaine misdirect foraging effort, sensitivity to social feedback on foraging effort and perception of reward reported through dances. The principal significance of this research is that it will establish a new model system for studying the molecular pathways of excessive reward-directed behavior in a simple nervous system. This will set the stage for the use of new and emerging genomic technologies for the bee to explore pathways identified in reward processing in detail, to further develop the bee model system. Extensive conservation of nervous system function at the molecular level across the animal kingdom indicates that the principles of reward coding we aim to elucidate in the bee will have general relevance.