α4β2∗ and α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor binding predicts choice preference in two cost benefit decision-making tasks

Abstract

Nicotinic receptors have been linked to a wide range of cognitive and behavioral functions, but surprisingly little is known about their involvement in cost benefit decision making. The goal of these experiments was to determine how nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) expression is related to two forms of cost benefit decision making. Male Long Evans rats were tested in probability and delay discounting tasks, which required discrete trial choices between a small reward and a large reward associated with varying probabilities of omission and varying delays to reward delivery, respectively. Following testing, radioligand binding to α4β2* and α7 nAChR subtypes in brain regions implicated in cost benefit decision making was examined. Significant linear relationships were observed between choice of the large delayed reward in the delay discounting task and α4β2* receptor binding in both dorsal and ventral hippocampus. Additionally, trends were found suggesting that choice of the large costly reward in both discounting tasks was inversely related to α4β2* receptor binding in the medial prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens shell. Similar, trends suggested that choice of the large delayed reward in the delay discounting task was inversely related to α4β2* receptor binding in the orbitofrontal cortex, nucleus accumbens core, and basolateral amygdala, as well as to α7 receptor binding in basolateral amygdala. These data suggest that nAChRs (particularly α4β2*) play both unique and common roles in decisions that require consideration of different types of reward costs.

Neuregulin 3 Signaling Mediates Nicotine-Dependent Synaptic Plasticity in the Orbitofrontal Cortex and Cognition

“…We observe that nicotinic stimulation in the OFC not only prevents induction of LTP, but also changes the sign of plasticity to result in a profound LTD (Figure 1a/e). While α4β2* and α7 nAChRs are expressed in the OFC (Cloke and Winters, 2015;Mendez et al, 2013), their specific localization is not clear. In the PFC, α4β2* and α7 nAChRs have been shown to be expressed by both GABAergic interneurons as well as pyramidal neurons (Poorthuis et al, 2013).…”

Differential effects of α7 nicotinic receptor agonist PHA-543613 on spatial memory performance of rats in two distinct pharmacological dementia models

“…This strengthens the assumption that the shorter choice latency after MK-801 administration may not have originated from a general hyperactivity. However, further experiments are needed to assess the effects of scopolamine, MK-801 and PHA-543613 on impulsive behavior since the role of ␣7 nAChRs has not been unequivocally assessed on impulsivity, so far [51][52][53][54].…”

Nicotine Increases Impulsivity and Decreases Willingness to Exert Cognitive Effort despite Improving Attention in “Slacker” Rats: Insights into Cholinergic Regulation of Cost/Benefit Decision Making

“…Interestingly, the most commonly reported cholinergic-driven improvements are within the attentional domain, a cognitive process long associated with central acetylcholine [13] . While recent studies have examined cholinergic contributions to decision making under risk and delay via multiple drugs [14] , [15] , and while one cholinergic agonist has been used to study effort-based decision making [16] , [17] , whether acetylcholine regulates decision making with attentional effort costs has yet to be investigated. As such, it is unclear whether treatments that have a beneficial effect on attention per se (e.g.…”