Latency to Reward Predicts Social Dominance in Rats: A Causal Role for the Dopaminergic Mesolimbic System.

ABSTRACT: Reward signals encoded in the mesolimbic dopaminergic system guide approach/seeking behaviors to all varieties of life-supporting stimuli (rewards). Differences in dopamine (DA) levels have been found between dominant and submissive animals. However, it is still unclear whether these differences arise as a consequence of the rewarding nature of the acquisition of a dominant rank, or whether they preexist and favor dominance by promoting reward-seeking behavior. Given that acquisition of a social rank determines animals' priority access to resources, we hypothesized that differences in reward-seeking behavior might affect hierarchy establishment and that modulation of the dopaminergic system could affect the outcome of a social competition. We characterized reward-seeking behaviors based on

SUBMITTER: Lozano-Montes L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6460316 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature