Dopamine receptors regulate preference between high-effort and high-risk rewards

Gabriel, Daniel; Liley, Anna E.; Freels, Timothy G.; Simon, N.

doi:10.1007/s00213-020-05745-z

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 69 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…To provide a unitary measure of impulsive choice or risk-taking (as opposed to a multipoint curve), we utilized geometric area under the curve (AUC). AUC was calculated as the summed area of the trapezoids created by drawing vertical lines from the x -axis to percent choice of the large reinforcer in the Blocks 2–5 (Amlung et al, 2015; Gabriel et al, 2021; Myerson et al, 2001). The first block was excluded from AUC calculations to maintain focus on conditions involving either a delay or risk, as the first block of each task contained no discounting factors and an objectively superior choice (three pellets vs. one pellet).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Divergent risky decision-making and impulsivity behaviors in Lewis rat substrains with low genetic difference.

Gabriel¹,

Liley²,

Franks³

et al. 2023

Behavioral Neuroscience

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Substance use disorder (SUD) is associated with a cluster of cognitive disturbances that engender vulnerability to ongoing drug seeking and relapse. Two of these endophenotypes—risky decision-making and impulsivity—are amplified in individuals with SUD and are augmented by repeated exposure to illicit drugs. Identifying genetic factors underlying variability in these behavioral patterns is critical for early identification, prevention, and treatment of SUD-vulnerable individuals. Here, we compared risky decision-making and different facets of impulsivity between two fully inbred substrains of Lewis rats—LEW/NCrl and LEW/NHsd. We performed whole genome sequencing of both substrains to identify almost all relevant variants. We observed substantial differences in risky decision-making and impulsive behaviors. Relative to LEW/NHsd, the LEW/NCrl substrain accepts higher risk options in a decision-making task and higher rates of premature responses in the differential reinforcement of low rates of responding task. These phenotypic differences were more pronounced in females than males. We defined a total of ∼9,000 polymorphisms between these substrains at 40× whole genome short-read coverage. Roughly half of variants are located within a single 1.5 Mb region of Chromosome 8, but none impact protein-coding regions. In contrast, other variants are widely distributed, and of these, 38 are predicted to cause protein-coding variants. In conclusion, Lewis rat substrains differ significantly in risk-taking and impulsivity and only a small number of easily mapped variants are likely to be causal. Sequencing combined with a reduced complexity cross should enable identification of one or more variants underlying multiple complex addiction-relevant behaviors.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Divergent risky decision-making and impulsivity behaviors in Lewis rat substrains with low genetic difference.

Gabriel¹,

Liley²,

Franks³

et al. 2023

Behavioral Neuroscience

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Nevertheless, it is worth mentioning that delays are also aversive to other species. Gabriel et al (2021) showed that rats prefer obtaining one food pellet for sure following one lever press over obtaining one food pellet with a 0.25 probability following one lever press. But when the delay to food was increased over a session (from 0 to 7.5 s), preference shifted toward the risky option.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…But our goal was to determine, for those chosen values, how the pigeons’ food restriction level influenced their behavior. These effects might have greater generality, even in the absence of systematic comparisons (e.g., Gabriel et al, 2021 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hungry pigeons prefer sooner rare food over later likely food or faster information

Wittek,

Sayin,

Okur

et al. 2024

Front. Psychol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

IntroductionMaking decisions and investing effort to obtain rewards may depend on various factors, such as the delay to reward, the probability of its occurrence, and the information that can be collected about it. As predicted by various theories, pigeons and other animals indeed mind these factors when deciding.MethodsWe now implemented a task in which pigeons were allowed to choose among three options and to peck at the chosen key to improve the conditions of reward delivery. Pecking more at a first color reduced the 12-s delay before food was delivered with a 33.3% chance, pecking more at a second color increased the initial 33.3% chance of food delivery but did not reduce the 12-s delay, and pecking more at a third color reduced the delay before information was provided whether the trial will be rewarded with a 33.3% chance after 12 s.ResultsPigeons’ preference (delay vs. probability, delay vs. information, and probability vs. information), as well as their pecking effort for the chosen option, were analyzed. Our results indicate that hungry pigeons preferred to peck for delay reduction but did not work more for that option than for probability increase, which was the most profitable alternative and did not induce more pecking effort. In this task, information was the least preferred and induced the lowest level of effort. Refed pigeons showed no preference for any option but did not drastically reduce the average amounts of effort invested.DiscussionThese results are discussed in the context of species-specific ecological conditions that could constrain current foraging theories.

show abstract

“…Our findings revealed reduced expression of CHRNB2 and DRD1 in the nucleus accumbens core, as well as reduced expression of CHRNB2 and DRD2 in the medial prefrontal cortex, of animals previously exposed to nicotine relative to those exposed to vehicle vapor (Figure 3). Dopamine activity in corticolimbic structures has been implicated in risky choice [59,60]. For example, one study by Simon et al (2011) demonstrated that DRD1 but not DRD2 expression in the nucleus accumbens predicted choice in a punishment risk discounting task, while DRD2 but not DRD1 expression in the medial prefrontal cortex predicted choice in this same task.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Increased Risky Choice and Reduced CHRNB2 Expression in Adult Male Rats Exposed to Nicotine Vapor

Giner

Maynez-Anchondo

Liley

et al. 2022

IJMS

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

While the cognitive enhancing effects of nicotine use have been well documented, it has also been shown to impair decision making. The goal of this study was to determine if exposure to nicotine vapor increases risky decision making. The study also aims to investigate possible long-term effects of nicotine vapor exposure on the expression of genes coding for cholinergic and dopaminergic receptors in brain. Thirty-two adult male Sprague Dawley rats were exposed to 24 mg/mL nicotine vapor or vehicle control, immediately followed by testing in the probability discounting task for 10 consecutive days. Fifty-four days after the 10-day vapor exposure, animals were sacrificed and expression of genes coding for the α4 and β2 cholinergic receptor subunits, and dopamine D1 and D2 receptors, were analyzed using RT-PCR. Exposure to nicotine vapor caused an immediate and transient increase in risky choice. Analyses of gene expression identified significant reductions in CHRNB2 and DRD1 in the nucleus accumbens core and CHRNB2 and DRD2 in the medial prefrontal cortex of rats previously exposed to nicotine vapor, relative to vehicle controls. Results provide data on the negative cognitive effects of nicotine vapor exposure and identify cholinergic and dopaminergic mechanisms that may affected with repeated use.

show abstract

Dopamine receptors regulate preference between high-effort and high-risk rewards

Cited by 6 publications

References 69 publications

Divergent risky decision-making and impulsivity behaviors in Lewis rat substrains with low genetic difference.

Divergent risky decision-making and impulsivity behaviors in Lewis rat substrains with low genetic difference.

Hungry pigeons prefer sooner rare food over later likely food or faster information

Increased Risky Choice and Reduced CHRNB2 Expression in Adult Male Rats Exposed to Nicotine Vapor

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About