Extracellular glutamate decrease in accumbens following cued food delivery

Neuroreport. 2003 May 23;14(7):991-4. doi: 10.1097/01.wnr.0000068556.33086.17.

Abstract

This study examined the effects of cued vs non-cued food delivery/consumption on extracellular glutamate and dopamine in the nucleus accumbens of food-deprived rats. Animals that always received a food pellet following a series of auditory tones showed a significant decrease in extracellular glutamate following food consumption, whereas animals that had not been previously exposed to tone-food pairing did not (p<0.05). In contrast, extracellular dopamine was significantly increased in the nucleus accumbens during the first time period after food consumption (p<0.05) regardless of whether animals had been exposed to prior tone-food pairing. Results suggest that food delivery/consumption is associated with a decrease in accumbal glutamate if food delivery has been previously paired with predictive environmental cues.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Acoustic Stimulation
  • Animals
  • Cues*
  • Eating / physiology*
  • Extracellular Space / metabolism*
  • Food Deprivation / physiology*
  • Glutamic Acid / metabolism*
  • Male
  • Nucleus Accumbens / metabolism*
  • Rats
  • Rats, Sprague-Dawley

Substances

  • Glutamic Acid