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1 Graduate Program in Neuroscience and 4 Department of Medicine, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55455; 2 Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Minneapolis 55417; and 5 Minnesota Obesity Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55417; and 3 Department of Psychology, Barat College, Lake Forest, Illinois 60045
Opioids have long been known to have an
important role in feeding behavior, particularly related to the
rewarding aspects of food. Considerable behavioral evidence suggests
that sucrose consumption induces endogenous opioid release, affecting
feeding behavior as well as other opioid-mediated behaviors, such as
analgesia, dependence, and withdrawal. In the present study, rats were
given access to a 10% sucrose solution or water for 3 wk, then they were injected with 10 mg/kg naloxone or saline. Brains were
subsequently analyzed for c-Fos immunoreactivity (c-Fos-IR) in limbic
and autonomic regions in the forebrain and hindbrain. Main effects of
sucrose consumption or naloxone injection were seen in several areas, but a significant interaction was seen only in the central nucleus of
the amygdala and in the lateral division of the periaqueductal gray. In
the central nucleus of the amygdala, naloxone administration to those
rats drinking water significantly increased c-Fos-IR, an effect that
was significantly enhanced by sucrose consumption, suggesting an
upregulation of endogenous opioid tone in this area. The data from this
study indicate that the central nucleus of the amygdala has a key role
in the integration of gustatory, hedonic, and autonomic signals as they
relate to sucrose consumption, if not to food intake regulation in
general. Furthermore, the data from this study lend further support to
the hypothesis that sucrose consumption induces the release of
endogenous opioids.
central nucleus of the amygdala; diet palatability; bed nucleus of the stria terminalis; nucleus accumbens
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