TouchScreen-based phenotyping: altered stimulus/reward association and lower perseveration to gain a reward in mu opioid receptor knockout mice.

ABSTRACT: While the contribution of Mu Opioid Receptors (MORs) to hedonic aspects of reward processing is well-established, the notion that these receptors may also regulate motivation to gain a reward, and possibly other related cognitive dimensions, has been less investigated. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is a critical site for these processes. Our previous functional magnetic resonance imaging study found alterations of functional connectivity (FC) in reward/aversion networks in MOR knockout mice. Here we pursued voxelwise seed-based FC analyses using the same dataset with a focus on the PFC. We observed significant reduction of PFC FC in mutant mice, predominantly with the nucleus accumbens, supporting the notion of altered reward-driven top-down controls. We tested motivation for palatable food

SUBMITTER: Boulos LJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6411729 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature