Journal
NEUROPSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY
Volume 40, Issue 9, Pages 2096-2102Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/npp.2015.68
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Funding
- NIH [R01 MH57683]
- [PR2010-0035]
- [PSI2012-32445]
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In Pavlovian conditioning, sign- and goal-tracking behaviors represent different approaches towards the conditioned stimulus. These behavioral patterns have been associated with predictive or incentive properties of the conditioned stimulus, with a crucial involvement of the mesolimbic dopamine system. As it is possible that sign tracking behavior is more sensitive to dopamine modulation, we evaluated the dopamine-dependence of sign- and goal-tracking behavior. We assessed responses to both a D2 agonist and an antagonist, and tested performance in a behavioral paradigm known to activate dopamine projections and in an animal model that affects mesolimbic and mesocortical function. Sign trackers displayed a greater sensitivity to a D2 agonist and smaller prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle response than goal trackers, suggesting a reduced inhibitory ability. In addition, a neonatal ventral hippocampal lesion resulted in the loss of incentive salience of cues in sign trackers. Overall, these data indicate that sign- tracking behavior is more heavily controlled by dopamine than goal tracking.
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