Dopamine D1 receptor gene expression decreases in the nucleus accumbens upon long-term exposure to palatable food and differs depending on diet-induced obesity phenotype in rats

J. Alsiö; P. K. Olszewski; A. H. Norbäck; Z. E.A. Gunnarsson; Allen S Levine; C. Pickering; H. B. Schiöth

doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2010.09.046

Dopamine D1 receptor gene expression decreases in the nucleus accumbens upon long-term exposure to palatable food and differs depending on diet-induced obesity phenotype in rats

J. Alsiö, P. K. Olszewski, A. H. Norbäck, Z. E.A. Gunnarsson, Allen S Levine, C. Pickering, H. B. Schiöth

Food Science and Nutrition

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Abstract

The nucleus accumbens (NAcc) mediates feeding reward; its activity reflects tastants' hedonic value. NAcc dopamine guides immediate responses to reward, however, its involvement in establishing long-term responses after a period of exposure to palatable foods has not been defined. Furthermore, reward-driven overeating propels weight increase, but the scale of weight gain depends on animals' obesity-prone (OP) or -resistant (OR) phenotype. It is unclear whether the NAcc dopamine response to palatable food depends on obesity susceptibility. We investigated the effect of unrestricted extended access to high-fat high-sugar (HFHS) diet on expression of genes encoding dopamine receptors in the NAcc of OP and OR rats. We examined persistence of HFHS diet-induced changes in D₁ and D₂ gene expression in OP and OR rats subjected to HFHS withdrawal (bland chow for 18 days). Effects of restricted access to HFHS by pair-feeding were also studied. Using reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR), we found that NAcc D₁ mRNA was downregulated after long-term HFHS access in OP vs. OR animals. The effect was also observed after 18 days of HFHS withdrawal. Furthermore, restricted HFHS led to downregulation of D₁ as well as of D₂ mRNA levels compared to chow-fed controls. A difference in the expression of mu opioid receptor in the NAcc was also detected between the OP and OR rats during access to palatable food but not after withdrawal. We conclude that exposure to HFHS diets has lasting consequences for the NAcc dopamine system, perhaps modifying the motivation to search for food reward. The fact that the NAcc D₁ expression changes in OP animals after long-term exposure to palatable food and that this effect extends well into the reward discontinuation phase, implicates the D₁ receptor in the propensity to overeat and, in effect, gain weight in obesity prone individuals.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	779-787
Number of pages	9
Journal	Neuroscience
Volume	171
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2010.09.046
State	Published - Dec 15 2010

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The studies were supported by the Swedish Research Council (VR, medicine), AFA insurance , Svenska Läkaresällskapet , Åhlens Foundation , The Novo Nordisk Foundation , the Swedish Brain Research Foundation (Hjärnfonden) , and Systembolaget (SRA) . We thank Elin D. Almstedt for help with qPCR measurements. We thank Dr. Jonas Lindblom for valuable discussions. CP was supported by the Swedish Brain Research Foundation (Hjärnfonden) .

Keywords

Caudate putamen
Dietary fat
Dietary sugar
Obesity-prone phenotype
Opioid receptors

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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Alsiö, J., Olszewski, P. K., Norbäck, A. H., Gunnarsson, Z. E. A., Levine, A. S., Pickering, C., & Schiöth, H. B. (2010). Dopamine D1 receptor gene expression decreases in the nucleus accumbens upon long-term exposure to palatable food and differs depending on diet-induced obesity phenotype in rats. Neuroscience, 171(3), 779-787. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2010.09.046

Alsiö, J, Olszewski, PK, Norbäck, AH, Gunnarsson, ZEA, Levine, AS, Pickering, C & Schiöth, HB 2010, 'Dopamine D1 receptor gene expression decreases in the nucleus accumbens upon long-term exposure to palatable food and differs depending on diet-induced obesity phenotype in rats', Neuroscience, vol. 171, no. 3, pp. 779-787. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2010.09.046

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Dopamine D1 receptor gene expression decreases in the nucleus accumbens upon long-term exposure to palatable food and differs depending on diet-induced obesity phenotype in rats

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access

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