Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

The paraventricular thalamus is a critical mediator of top-down control of cue-motivated behavior in rats

2019; eLife Sciences Publications Ltd; Volume: 8; Linguagem: Inglês

10.7554/elife.49041

2050-084X

Paolo Campus, Ignacio R. Covelo, Youngsoo Kim, Aram Parsegian, Brittany N. Kuhn, Sofia A. Lopez, John F. Neumaier, Susan M. Ferguson, Leah C. Solberg Woods, Martin Sarter, Shelly B. Flagel,

Receptor Mechanisms and Signaling

Cues in the environment can elicit complex emotional states, and thereby maladaptive behavior, as a function of their ascribed value. Here we capture individual variation in the propensity to attribute motivational value to reward-cues using the sign-tracker/goal-tracker animal model. Goal-trackers attribute predictive value to reward-cues, and sign-trackers attribute both predictive and incentive value. Using chemogenetics and microdialysis, we show that, in sign-trackers, stimulation of the neuronal pathway from the prelimbic cortex (PrL) to the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) decreases the incentive value of a reward-cue. In contrast, in goal-trackers, inhibition of the PrL-PVT pathway increases both the incentive value and dopamine levels in the nucleus accumbens shell. The PrL-PVT pathway, therefore, exerts top-down control over the dopamine-dependent process of incentive salience attribution. These results highlight PrL-PVT pathway as a potential target for treating psychopathologies associated with the attribution of excessive incentive value to reward-cues, including addiction.