New Directions in Modelling Dysregulated Reward Seeking for Food and Drugs

Overview

Journal Neurosci Biobehav Rev

Specialties Neurology
Psychology
Social Sciences

Date 2021 Nov 5

PMID 34736883

Citations 12

Authors

Robyn M Brown

Christopher V Dayas

Morgan H James

Rachel J Smith

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Behavioral models are central to behavioral neuroscience. To study the neural mechanisms of maladaptive behaviors (including binge eating and drug addiction), it is essential to develop and utilize appropriate animal models that specifically focus on dysregulated reward seeking. Both food and cocaine are typically consumed in a regulated manner by rodents, motivated by reward and homeostatic mechanisms. However, both food and cocaine seeking can become dysregulated, resulting in binge-like consumption and compulsive patterns of intake. The speakers in this symposium for the 2021 International Behavioral Neuroscience Meeting utilize behavioral models of dysregulated reward-seeking to investigate the neural mechanisms of binge-like consumption, enhanced cue-driven reward seeking, excessive motivation, and continued use despite negative consequences. In this review, we outline examples of maladaptive patterns of intake and explore recent animal models that drive behavior to become dysregulated, including stress exposure and intermittent access to rewards. Lastly, we explore select behavioral and neural mechanisms underlying dysregulated reward-seeking for both food and drugs.

Citing Articles

Access to high-fat diet results in increased sensitivity to the psychostimulant effects of MDPV in mice.

Wojcieszak J, Kuczynska K, Leszczynska A, Narazinski E, Cichalewska-Studzinska M Pharmacol Rep. 2025; .

PMID: 39869285 DOI: 10.1007/s43440-025-00701-0.

Contribution of hypothalamic orexin (hypocretin) circuits to pathologies of motivation.

Mohammadkhani A, Mitchell C, James M, Borgland S, Dayas C Br J Pharmacol. 2024; 181(22):4430-4449.

PMID: 39317446 PMC: 11458361. DOI: 10.1111/bph.17325.

Punishment resistance for cocaine is associated with inflexible habits in rats.

Jones B, Paladino M, Cruz A, Spencer H, Kahanek P, Scarborough L Addict Neurosci. 2024; 11.

PMID: 38859977 PMC: 11164474. DOI: 10.1016/j.addicn.2024.100148.

Machine learning models to predict ligand binding affinity for the orexin 1 receptor.

Zhang V, OConnor S, Welsh W, James M Artif Intell Chem. 2024; 2(1).

PMID: 38476266 PMC: 10927255. DOI: 10.1016/j.aichem.2023.100040.

Dietary intake in children and adolescents with food addiction: A systematic review.

Santos G, de Sousa Fernandes M, Carniel P, da Silva Garcez A, Leandro C, Canuto R Addict Behav Rep. 2024; 19:100531.

PMID: 38322322 PMC: 10844934. DOI: 10.1016/j.abrep.2024.100531.

References

Tornatzky W, Miczek K . Cocaine self-administration "binges": transition from behavioral and autonomic regulation toward homeostatic dysregulation in rats. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2001; 148(3):289-98. DOI: 10.1007/s002130050053. View

Yin H, Ostlund S, Knowlton B, Balleine B . The role of the dorsomedial striatum in instrumental conditioning. Eur J Neurosci. 2005; 22(2):513-23. DOI: 10.1111/j.1460-9568.2005.04218.x. View

Cason A, Aston-Jones G . Role of orexin/hypocretin in conditioned sucrose-seeking in rats. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2012; 226(1):155-65. PMC: 3572270. DOI: 10.1007/s00213-012-2902-y. View

Buczek Y, Le A, Wang A, Stewart J, Shaham Y . Stress reinstates nicotine seeking but not sucrose solution seeking in rats. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 1999; 144(2):183-8. DOI: 10.1007/s002130050992. View

Heisler L, Lam D . An appetite for life: brain regulation of hunger and satiety. Curr Opin Pharmacol. 2017; 37:100-106. DOI: 10.1016/j.coph.2017.09.002. View

Young M, De Moor C, Kent P, Stockwell T, Sherk A, Zhao J . Attributable fractions for substance use in relation to crime. Addiction. 2021; 116(11):3198-3205. PMC: 8518735. DOI: 10.1111/add.15494. View

Brown A, Flynn J, Smith D, Dayas C . Down-regulated striatal gene expression for synaptic plasticity-associated proteins in addiction and relapse vulnerable animals. Int J Neuropsychopharmacol. 2011; 14(8):1099-110. DOI: 10.1017/S1461145710001367. View

Tsibulsky V, Norman A . Satiety threshold: a quantitative model of maintained cocaine self-administration. Brain Res. 1999; 839(1):85-93. DOI: 10.1016/s0006-8993(99)01717-5. View

Amat J, Paul E, Zarza C, Watkins L, Maier S . Previous experience with behavioral control over stress blocks the behavioral and dorsal raphe nucleus activating effects of later uncontrollable stress: role of the ventral medial prefrontal cortex. J Neurosci. 2006; 26(51):13264-72. PMC: 6675012. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3630-06.2006. View

10.

Lucantonio F, Takahashi Y, Hoffman A, Chang C, Bali-Chaudhary S, Shaham Y . Orbitofrontal activation restores insight lost after cocaine use. Nat Neurosci. 2014; 17(8):1092-9. PMC: 4120653. DOI: 10.1038/nn.3763. View

11.

Venniro M, Zhang M, Caprioli D, Hoots J, Golden S, Heins C . Volitional social interaction prevents drug addiction in rat models. Nat Neurosci. 2018; 21(11):1520-1529. PMC: 7386559. DOI: 10.1038/s41593-018-0246-6. View

12.

Harris G, Wimmer M, Aston-Jones G . A role for lateral hypothalamic orexin neurons in reward seeking. Nature. 2005; 437(7058):556-9. DOI: 10.1038/nature04071. View

13.

Volkow N, Wang G, Fowler J, Telang F . Overlapping neuronal circuits in addiction and obesity: evidence of systems pathology. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2008; 363(1507):3191-200. PMC: 2607335. DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2008.0107. View

14.

Bello N, Guarda A, Terrillion C, Redgrave G, Coughlin J, Moran T . Repeated binge access to a palatable food alters feeding behavior, hormone profile, and hindbrain c-Fos responses to a test meal in adult male rats. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2009; 297(3):R622-31. PMC: 2739780. DOI: 10.1152/ajpregu.00087.2009. View

15.

Hogarth L . Addiction is driven by excessive goal-directed drug choice under negative affect: translational critique of habit and compulsion theory. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2020; 45(5):720-735. PMC: 7265389. DOI: 10.1038/s41386-020-0600-8. View

16.

James M, Aston-Jones G . Orexin/Hypocretin, Central Amygdala, and Escalation of Cocaine Intake. Biol Psychiatry. 2017; 81(7):552-553. PMC: 5798002. DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2017.01.010. View

17.

Calipari E, Ferris M, Siciliano C, Zimmer B, Jones S . Intermittent cocaine self-administration produces sensitization of stimulant effects at the dopamine transporter. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 2014; 349(2):192-8. PMC: 3989803. DOI: 10.1124/jpet.114.212993. View

18.

Luscher C, Robbins T, Everitt B . The transition to compulsion in addiction. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2020; 21(5):247-263. PMC: 7610550. DOI: 10.1038/s41583-020-0289-z. View

19.

Corwin R, Buda-Levin A . Behavioral models of binge-type eating. Physiol Behav. 2004; 82(1):123-30. DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2004.04.036. View

20.

Geaghan M, Cairns M . MicroRNA and Posttranscriptional Dysregulation in Psychiatry. Biol Psychiatry. 2015; 78(4):231-9. DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2014.12.009. View