Activation of Ventral Tegmental Area 5-HT_2C Receptors Reduces Incentive Motivation.

ABSTRACT: Obesity is primarily due to food intake in excess of the body's energetic requirements, intake that is not only associated with hunger but also the incentive value of food. The 5-hydroxytryptamine 2C receptor (5-HT_2CR) is a target for the treatment of human obesity. Mechanistically, 5-HT_2CRs are positioned to influence both homeostatic feeding circuits within the hypothalamus and reward circuits within the ventral tegmental area (VTA). Here we investigated the role of 5-HT_2CRs in incentive motivation using a mathematical model of progressive ratio (PR) responding in mice. We found that the 5-HT_2CR agonist lorcaserin significantly reduced both ad libitum chow intake and PR responding for chocolate pellets and increased c-fos expression in VTA 5-HT

SUBMITTER: Valencia-Torres L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5362069 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature