Melanocortin 4 Receptor Signaling in Dopamine 1 Receptor Neurons is Required for Procedural Memory Learning

Overview

Journal Physiol Behav

Specialties Physiology
Psychiatry
Psychology
Social Sciences

Date 2012 Feb 21

PMID 22342812

Citations 27

Authors

Huxing Cui

Brittany L Mason

Charlotte Lee

Akinori Nishi

Joel K Elmquist

Michael Lutter

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

It is now widely recognized that exposure to palatable foods engages reward circuits that promote over-eating and facilitate the development of obesity. While the melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4R) has previously been shown to regulate food intake and energy expenditure, little is known about its role in food reward. We demonstrate that MC4R is co-expressed with the dopamine 1 receptor (D1R) in the ventral striatum. While MC4R-null mice are hyperphagic and obese, they exhibit impairments in acquisition of operant responding for a high fat reinforcement. Restoration of MC4R signaling in D1R neurons normalizes procedural learning without affecting motivation to obtain high fat diet. MC4R signaling in D1R neurons is also required for learning in a non-food-reinforced version of the cued water maze. Finally, MC4R signaling in neostriatal slices increases phosphorylation of the Thr34 residue of DARPP-32, a protein phosphatase-1 inhibitor that regulates synaptic plasticity. These data identify a novel requirement for MC4R signaling in procedural memory learning.

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