Thalamo-Nucleus Accumbens Projections in Motivated Behaviors and Addiction

Groote, Aurélie De; d’Exaerde, Alban de Kerchove

doi:10.3389/fnsys.2021.711350

Cited by 16 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 91 publications

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“…Not surprisingly, decreased motivation and impaired valence-based processing are typical for PTSD ( 17 ), and NAc circuitry is implicated in post-trauma active avoidance ( 89 ). The thalamus is a central hub of homeostatic information ( 90 ), whereas the PCC is implicated in regulating the focus of attention (e.g., internal vs. external) ( 91 ). Greater NAc connectivity between these regions in this “high symptom” subgroup may work jointly to influence pain catastrophizing and pain anxiety via the increased projection of internal pain states and the increased demand to direct internal attention away from such states.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding Pain and Trauma Symptoms in Veterans From Resting-State Connectivity: Unsupervised Modeling

Strigo

Spadoni²,

Simmons³

2022

Front. Pain Res.

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Trauma and posttraumatic stress are highly comorbid with chronic pain and are often antecedents to developing chronic pain conditions. Pain and trauma are associated with greater utilization of medical services, greater use of psychiatric medication, and increased total cost of treatment. Despite the high overlap in the clinic, the neural mechanisms of pain and trauma are often studied separately. In this study, resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) scans were completed among a diagnostically heterogeneous sample of veterans with a range of back pain and trauma symptoms. Using Group Iterative Multiple Model Estimation (GIMME), an effective functional connectivity analysis, we explored an unsupervised model deriving subgroups based on path similarity in a priori defined regions of interest (ROIs) from brain regions implicated in the experience of pain and trauma. Three subgroups were identified by patterns in functional connection and differed significantly on several psychological measures despite similar demographic and diagnostic characteristics. The first subgroup was highly connected overall, was characterized by functional connectivity from the nucleus accumbens (NAc), the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) to the insula and scored low on pain and trauma symptoms. The second subgroup did not significantly differ from the first subgroup on pain and trauma measures but was characterized by functional connectivity from the ACC and NAc to the thalamus and from ACC to PCC. The third subgroup was characterized by functional connectivity from the thalamus and PCC to NAc and scored high on pain and trauma symptoms. Our results suggest that, despite demographic and diagnostic similarities, there may be neurobiologically dissociable biotypes with different mechanisms for managing pain and trauma. These findings may have implications for the determination of appropriate biotype-specific interventions that target these neurological systems.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding Pain and Trauma Symptoms in Veterans From Resting-State Connectivity: Unsupervised Modeling

Strigo

Spadoni²,

Simmons³

2022

Front. Pain Res.

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“…The connectivity between the nucleus accumbens and the thalamus, as parts of the reward system, is responsible for the translation of motivation inputs into motor responses [28]. We also found increased connectivity between these two regions after RYGB, suggesting an altered motivational incentive to food-seeking during hypoglycemia.…”

Section: Striatum and Frontal Cortexmentioning

confidence: 49%

Effects of gastric bypass surgery on brain connectivity responses to hypoglycemia

et al. 2022

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Introduction Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) leads to beneficial effects on glucose homeostasis, and attenuated hormonal counterregulatory responses to hypoglycemia are likely to contribute. RYGB also induces alterations in neural activity of cortical and subcortical brain regions. We aimed to characterize RYGB-induced changes in resting-state connectivity of specific brain regions of interest for energy homeostasis and behavioral control during hypoglycemia. Method Ten patients with BMI > 35 kg/m2 were investigated with brain PET/MR imaging during a hyperinsulinemic normo- and hypoglycemic clamp, before and 4 months after RYGB. Hormonal levels were assessed throughout the clamp. Resting-state (RS) fMRI scans were acquired in the glucose-lowering phase of the clamp, and they were analyzed with a seed-to-voxel approach. Results RS connectivity during initiation of hypoglycemia was significantly altered after RYGB between nucleus accumbens, thalamus, caudate, hypothalamus and their crosstalk with cortical and subcortical regions. Connectivity between the nucleus accumbens and the frontal pole was increased after RYGB, and this was associated with a reduction of ACTH (r = −0.639, p = 0.047) and cortisol (r = −0.635, p = 0.048) responses. Instead, connectivity between the caudate and the frontal pole after RYGB was reduced and this was associated with less attenuation of glucagon response during the hypoglycemic clamp (r = −0.728, p = 0.017), smaller reduction in fasting glucose (r = −0.798, p = 0.007) and less excess weight loss (r = 0.753, p = 0.012). No other significant associations were found between post-RYGB changes in ROI-to-voxel regional connectivity hormonal responses and metabolic or anthropometric outcomes. Conclusion RYGB alters brain connectivity during hypoglycemia of several neural pathways involved in reward, inhibitory control, and energy homeostasis. These changes are associated with altered hormonal responses to hypoglycemia and may be involved in the glucometabolic outcome of RYGB.

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“…The PVT has been implicated in regulating mood, reward, stress, sleep/wake, and arousal, in part due to its interface with the SCN and a number of corticolimbic regions, including the PFC, amygdala, and the NAc ( Moga et al, 1995 ; Li and Kirouac, 2008 ; Vertes and Hoover, 2008 ). Though only the amygdala has been confirmed to receive indirect SCN input via the PVT using tracing techniques ( Peng and Bentivoglio, 2004 ), it is likely this also extends to the NAc given the NAc’s aforementioned rhythmicity in function and the known role of PVT-NAc projections in mediating reward ( Kirouac, 2015 ; Barson et al, 2020 ; De Groote and de Kerchove d’Exaerde, 2021 ). Furthermore, PER expression is similar between the NAc and PVT in rodents, with higher expression in the active/dark phase, and in both regions is entertainable to food intake ( Angeles-Castellanos et al, 2007 ; Feillet et al, 2008 ; Falcon et al, 2013 ).…”

Section: The Nucleus Accumbens As a Circadian Oscillatormentioning

confidence: 99%

The Ventral Tegmental Area and Nucleus Accumbens as Circadian Oscillators: Implications for Drug Abuse and Substance Use Disorders

2022

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Circadian rhythms convergently evolved to allow for optimal synchronization of individuals’ physiological and behavioral processes with the Earth’s 24-h periodic cycling of environmental light and temperature. Whereas the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) is considered the primary pacemaker of the mammalian circadian system, many extra-SCN oscillatory brain regions have been identified to not only exhibit sustainable rhythms in circadian molecular clock function, but also rhythms in overall region activity/function and mediated behaviors. In this review, we present the most recent evidence for the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and nucleus accumbens (NAc) to serve as extra-SCN oscillators and highlight studies that illustrate the functional significance of the VTA’s and NAc’s inherent circadian properties as they relate to reward-processing, drug abuse, and vulnerability to develop substance use disorders (SUDs).

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Thalamo-Nucleus Accumbens Projections in Motivated Behaviors and Addiction

Cited by 16 publications

References 91 publications

Understanding Pain and Trauma Symptoms in Veterans From Resting-State Connectivity: Unsupervised Modeling

Understanding Pain and Trauma Symptoms in Veterans From Resting-State Connectivity: Unsupervised Modeling

Effects of gastric bypass surgery on brain connectivity responses to hypoglycemia

The Ventral Tegmental Area and Nucleus Accumbens as Circadian Oscillators: Implications for Drug Abuse and Substance Use Disorders

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