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What and when to “want”? Amygdala-based focusing of incentive salience upon sugar and sex

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Abstract

Rationale

Amygdala-related circuitry helps translate learned Pavlovian associations into appetitive and aversive motivation, especially upon subsequent encounters with cues.

Objectives

We asked whether μ-opioid stimulation via microinjections of the specific agonist d-Ala2, N-MePhe4, Gly-ol)-enkephalin (DAMGO) in central nucleus of amygdala (CeA), or the adjacent basolateral amygdala (BLA) would magnify sucrose or sex “wanting”, guided by available cues.

Materials and methods

CeA or BLA DAMGO enhancement of cue-triggered “wanting” was assessed using Pavlovian to instrumental transfer (PIT). Unconditioned food “wanting” was measured via intake, and male sexual “wanting” for an estrous female was measured in a sexual approach test. Sucrose hedonic taste “liking” was measured in a taste reactivity test.

Results

CeA (but not BLA) DAMGO increased the intensity of phasic peaks in instrumental sucrose seeking stimulated by Pavlovian cues over precue levels in PIT, while suppressing seeking at other moments. CeA DAMGO also enhanced food intake, as well as sexual approach and investigation of an estrous female by males. DAMGO “wanting” enhancements were localized to CeA, as indicated by “Fos plume”-based anatomical maps for DAMGO causation of behavioral effects. Despite increasing “wanting”, CeA DAMGO decreased the hedonic impact or “liking” for sucrose in a taste reactivity paradigm.

Conclusions

CeA μ-opioid stimulation specifically enhances incentive salience, which is dynamically guided to food or sex by available cues.

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Acknowledgements

These experiments were funded by DA015188 and MH053649 to KCB, and DA021481 to SVM. We thank Stephen Chang and Brianne Dzwonek for assistance with behavioral testing and scoring, Michelle DiMondo and Phillip Hoberg for assistance with immunohistochemistry, Jill Becker for advice on estrus induction, and anonymous reviewers for helpful suggestions on a previous version of the manuscript.

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  1. Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Stephen V. Mahler & Kent C. Berridge

  2. Department of Neurosciences, Medical University of South Carolina, 404 BSB, 173 Ashley Ave., Charleston, SC, 29425, USA

    Stephen V. Mahler

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Correspondence to Stephen V. Mahler.

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Mahler, S.V., Berridge, K.C. What and when to “want”? Amygdala-based focusing of incentive salience upon sugar and sex. Psychopharmacology 221, 407–426 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-011-2588-6

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