In:
The Journal of Neuroscience, Society for Neuroscience, Vol. 28, No. 41 ( 2008-10-08), p. 10272-10277
Kurzfassung:
The transcription factor deltaFosB (ΔFosB), induced in nucleus accumbens (NAc) by chronic exposure to drugs of abuse, has been shown to mediate sensitized responses to these drugs. However, less is known about a role for ΔFosB in regulating responses to natural rewards. Here, we demonstrate that two powerful natural reward behaviors, sucrose drinking and sexual behavior, increase levels of ΔFosB in the NAc. We then use viral-mediated gene transfer to study how such ΔFosB induction influences behavioral responses to these natural rewards. We demonstrate that overexpression of ΔFosB in the NAc increases sucrose intake and promotes aspects of sexual behavior. In addition, we show that animals with previous sexual experience, which exhibit increased ΔFosB levels, also show an increase in sucrose consumption. This work suggests that ΔFosB is not only induced in the NAc by drugs of abuse, but also by natural rewarding stimuli. Additionally, our findings show that chronic exposure to stimuli that induce ΔFosB in the NAc can increase consumption of other natural rewards.
Materialart:
Online-Ressource
ISSN:
0270-6474
,
1529-2401
DOI:
10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1531-08.2008
Sprache:
Englisch
Verlag:
Society for Neuroscience
Publikationsdatum:
2008
ZDB Id:
1475274-8
SSG:
12
