Prenatal dexamethasone exposure alters effort decision making and triggers nucleus accumbens and anterior cingulate cortex functional changes in male rats.

ABSTRACT: Daily, individuals select actions based on cost-benefit to allocate resources into goal-directed actions. Different brain regions coordinate this complex decision, including the nucleus accumbens (NAc), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and ventral tegmental area (VTA). In utero exposure to synthetic glucocorticoids (iuGC), such as dexamethasone, triggers prominent motivation deficits but the impact of this exposure in the ACC-NAc and/or ACC-VTA circuits is unknown. Here, we show that iuGC exposure causes decreased motivation for natural rewards (food) and impaired effort-based decision-making. Importantly, reduced neuronal activation (number of c-fos⁺ neurons) was observed in the NAc core and ACC of iuGC rats in comparison to CTR rats after performing the effort-based decision-m

SUBMITTER: Domingues AV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9391327 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature