Juvenile stressor exposure increases the susceptibility to anxiety-like characteristics in adulthood and it is thought that the consumption of palatable food can dampen the HPAaxis, in part, through the mesolimbic pathway. Ghrelin, an orexigenic peptide, increases food intake and has a role in stress-induced preference for palatable food by modulating dopamine release in the reward pathway. We hypothesize that the combination of juvenile stressor exposure and access to palatable food sensitizes the reward pathway, which will be manifested by altered dopamine receptor mRNA expression and enhanced sensitivity to ghrelin in adulthood. Findings revealed that access to palatable food ameliorated the anxiogenic effects of juvenile stressor exposure in adulthood however at the cost of increased adiposity. Interestingly, our findings displayed a lack of association between the upregulation of dopamine receptor mRNA expression occurring at nucleus accumbens to highly rewarding stimuli (cookie dough and cocaine) in previously stressed rats with access to palatable food. Juvenile stressor exposure enhanced ghrelin signalling for highly hedonic food whereas access to palatable food, regardless of stressor exposure, blunted ghrelin sensitivity. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………….. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………. iii TABLES OF CONTENTS………………………………………………………... iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS…………………………………………………….. v LIST OF FIGURES………………………………………………………………. vi INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………… 1 The Stress Response………………………………………………………..... 2 The Juvenile Period and Stress………………………………………………. 4 Systems regulating food intake and energy balance………………………….
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