Free-Operant Avoidance Behavior by Rats after Reinforcer Revaluation Using Opioid Agonists and d-Amphetamine
Year: 2014
Type: article
Abstract: The associative processes that support free-operant instrumental avoidance behavior are still unknown. We used a revaluation procedure to determine whether the performance of an avoidance response is sensitive to the current value of the aversive, negative reinforcer. Rats were trained on an unsignaled, free-operant lever press avoidance paradigm in which each response avoided or escaped shock and produced a 5 s feedback stimulus. The revaluation procedure consisted of noncontingent presentations of the shock in the absence of the lever either paired or unpaired with systemic morphine and in a different cohort with systemic d-amphetamine. Rats were then tested drug free during an extinction test. In both the d-amphetamine and morphine groups, pairing of the drug and shock decreased subsequent avoidance responding during the extinction test, suggesting that avoidance behavior was sensitive to the current incentive value of the aversive negative reinforcer. Experiment 2 used central infusions of D-Ala(2), NMe-Phe(4), Gly-ol(5)]-enkephalin (DAMGO), a mu-opioid receptor agonist, in the periacqueductal gray and nucleus accumbens shell to revalue the shock. Infusions of DAMGO in both regions replicated the effects seen with systemic morphine. These results are the first to demonstrate the impact of revaluation of an aversive reinforcer on avoidance behavior using pharmacological agents, thereby providing potential therapeutic targets for the treatment of avoidance behavior symptomatic of anxiety disorders.
Source: Journal of Neuroscience
Institution: University of Cambridge
Language: English
Subfield: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,074
Funders: Wellcome Trust, Medical Research Council
OpenAlex ID: W2160359154