Probing the role of a hypothalamic-thalamic-striatal circuit in cue-driven behaviors

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Stimuli (cues) in the environment associated with reward can motivate normal behavior, bringing one in close proximity to valuable resources (e.g. food); but they can also gain inordinate control over behavior, as is the case with addiction. The ability of reward cues to motivate behavior occurs through Pavlovian learning processes. When a discrete cue is repeatedly paired with presentation of a reward, it can acquire the ability to act as a predictor, but can also acquire incentive motivational properties. In individuals with addiction, cues that have been previously associated with the drug-taking experience acquire the ability to maintain drug-seeking behavior and instigate relapse, even when there is a strong desire to stop use. The neurobiological processes by which reward cues gain inordinate control over behavior have proven difficult to discern because cues can simultaneously acquire “predictive” and “incentive” properties, and in most studies these two psychological processes are confounded. In the proposed studies we will exploit natural variation in cue-reward learning to identify the neural circuitry specifically responsible for the attribution of incentive motivational value (incentive salience) to reward cues. When rats are exposed to a Pavlovian conditioned approach paradigm, some, termed “goal-trackers”, attribute predictive value to a discrete food-associated cue; whereas others, termed “sign-trackers” attribute incentive salience to the cue. Relative to goal-trackers, sign-trackers are more susceptible to behavioral control by discrete food- and drug-paired cues and have a greater propensity for cue- induced reinstatement or relapse. Using this animal model, we have found that the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) plays a critical role in incentive learning processes and in regulating individual differences in relapse propensity. The PVT appears to act as a node that integrates “top-down” and “bottom-up” input to regulate cue-driven behaviors, but the subcortical circuitry subserving incentive salience attribution remains to be determined. The central hypothesis to be tested here is that both input to and output from the PVT are necessary and sufficient to promote dopamine-dependent incentive learning. We will use a molecular-genetic approach with viral vectors to selectively express engineered artificial receptors (e.g. DREADD) to determine how transiently altering activity of neurons in select PVT circuits affects the propensity to attribute incentive salience to reward cues. Specifically, we will target inputs to the PVT from the lateral hypothalamus (LH), and outputs from the PVT to the nucleus accumbens shell (NAcSh). We will determine whether the PVT-NAcSh pathway can regulate cue-driven behavior independent of the ventral tegmental area, and how manipulating these subcortical circuits affects neurochemical activity in the NAcSh. In addition, we will determine if the LH- PVT and PVT-NAcSh pathways mediate individual differences in the propensity for cue-induced reinstatement of drug-seeking behavior. This work will identify critical components of the neural circuitry that contribute to addiction liability.