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Peptides that Regulate Food Intake

Effects of the opioid antagonist naltrexone on feeding induced by DAMGO in the ventral tegmental area and in the nucleus accumbens shell region in the rat

¹Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55415; ³Minnesota Obesity Center, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Minneapolis 55417; ⁴Departments of ⁴Medicine and of ⁵Psychiatry, University of Minnesota, St. Paul 55414; and ²Minnesota Craniofacial Research Training Program, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455

Submitted 16 May 2003 ; accepted in final form 28 July 2003

ABSTRACT

The nucleus accumbens shell region (sNAcc) and the ventral tegmental area (VTA) are two major nodes in the mesolimbic dopamine pathway, which mediates reward for various survival behaviors, including feeding. Opioids increase and maintain food intake when injected peripherally and centrally. Opioids in the VTA cause increased release of dopamine in the sNAcc, and when injected into either site, cause an increase in food intake. Animals in this study were double cannulated in the VTA and in the sNAcc and injected with various combinations of naltrexone (NTX) (2.5, 5, and 25 µg/side) and Tyr-D-Ala-Gly-(Me)Phe-Gly-ol (DAMGO) (0.1, 0.3, 1, 3, and 5 nmol/side) in both sites. DAMGO was found to dose dependently increase intake to an equal extent when injected into either site. DAMGO-induced increases in food intake when injected into the VTA were blocked to control levels with the highest dose of NTX injected bilaterally into the sNAcc; however, increases in intake when injected into the sNAcc were blocked only partially by the highest dose of NTX injected bilaterally into the VTA. These results indicate opioid-opioid communication between the two sites; however, the communication may be quite indirect, requiring other sites and transmitters to elicit a change in behavior.

food intake; mesolimbic; microinjection; reward

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