Stress-impaired reward pathway promotes distinct feeding behavior patterns

Abstract

Psychosocial stress can impact feeding behavior outcomes. Although many studies have examined alterations to food intake, little is known about how stress affects feeding behavior patterns. To determine the impact of psychological stress on feeding behavior patterns, mice were subjected to various psychosocial stressors (social isolation, intermittent high-fat-diet, or physical restraint) prior to timed observations in a feeding arena that incorporated multiple bait loci. In addition, in vivo microdialysis was used to assess the effects of stressors on the reward system by measuring dopamine levels in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) shell. Impaired feeding behavior patterns characterized by significant deviations in bait selection (i.e. fixated feeding) and prolonged periods of eating (i.e. protracted feeding) were observed in stressed mice relative to non-stressed controls. In addition to clear behavioral effects, the stressors also negatively impacted dopamine levels at the nucleus accumbens shell. Normalization of dopamine reversed the fixated feeding behavior, whereas specifically inhibiting neuronal activity in the dopaminergic neurons of the ventral tegmental area that project to the nucleus accumbens shell caused similar impairments in feeding. Given that the deviations were not consistently accompanied by changes in the amount of bait consumed, body weight, or metabolic factors, the qualitative effects of psychosocial stressors on feeding behavior likely reflect perturbations to a critical pathway in the mesolimbic dopamine system. These findings provide compelling evidence that aberrations in feeding behavior patterns can be developed as sensitive biomarkers of psychosocial stress and possibly a prodromal state of neuropsychiatric diseases.