Hedonic Hot Spot in Nucleus Accumbens Shell: Where Do μ-Opioids Cause Increased Hedonic Impact of Sweetness?

By S. Peciña, Kent C. Berridge. Journal of Neuroscience, 2005

680 citations recorded by the source corpus.

μ-Opioid systems in the medial shell of the nucleus accumbens contribute to hedonic impact (“liking”) for sweetness, food, and drug rewards. But does the entire medial shell generate reward hedonic impact? Or is there a specific localized site for opioid enhancement of hedonic “liking” in the medial shell? And how does enhanced taste hedonic impact relate to opioid-stimulated increases in food intake? Here, we used a functional mapping procedure based on microinjection Fos plumes to localize opioid substrates in the medial shell of the nucleus accumbens that cause enhanced “liking” reactions to sweet pleasure and that stimulate food intake. We mapped changes in affective orofacial reactions of “liking”/“disliking” elicited by sucrose or quinine tastes after d-Ala2-N-Me-Phe4-Glycol5-enkephalin (DAMGO) microinjections in rats and compared hedonic increases to food intake stimulated at the same sites. Our maps indicate that opioid-induced increases in sucrose hedonic impact are generated by a localized cubic millimeter site in a rostrodorsal region of the medial shell. In contrast, all regions of the medial shell generated DAMGO-induced robust increases in eating behavior and food intake. Thus, our results identify a locus for opioid amplification of hedonic impact and reveal a distinction between opioid mechanisms of food intake and hedonic impact. Opioid circuits for stimulating food intake are widely distributed, whereas hedonic “liking” circuits are more tightly localized in the rostromedial shell of the nucleus accumbens.

Subfields: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, Endocrine and Autonomic Systems, Nutrition and Dietetics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/365f9572ec8e139dc21751196c9ebbdead0445a5

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Citations in the corpus

The neuropsychology of consumer behavior and marketing (2018, background): “…to map specific hedonic hot spots, including opioid enhancement of liking in the rostrodorsal quadrant of the medial shell of the nucleus accumbens (Peciña & Berridge, 2005) and ventral pallidum (Smith & Berridge, 2005), and endocannabinoid enhancement of liking in the nucleus accumbens (Mahler,…”
An Evolutionary Framework to Understand Foraging, Wanting, and Desire: The Neuropsychology of the SEEKING System (2012, background): “The best complementary approach, albeit sufficiently different to provoke some interesting debate, is one proposed by Kent Berridge and colleagues (for thorough coverage, see Berridge, Robinson, & Aldridge, 2009; Peciña & Berridge, 2005).”
Liking, Wanting and the Incentive-Sensitization Theory of Addiction (2016, background): “…tiny, neurochemically restricted, and easily disrupted – perhaps a reason why intense pleasures are relatively few and far between in life compared to intense desires (Castro & Berridge, 2014; Mahler, Smith, & Berridge, 2007; Peciña & Berridge, 2005; K. S. Smith, Berridge, & Aldridge, 2011).”
Reconsidering Anhedonia in Depression: Lessons from Translational Neuroscience (2010, background): “Given the importance of the NAcc, ACC, amygdala and mesolimbic DA function in promoting normative cost/benefit decision-making, it is noteworthy that this network is heavily impacted in MDD, as described above.”
The tempted brain eats: pleasure and desire circuits in obesity and eating disorders. (2010, neutral): “The hotspots form a distributed network of brain islands like an archipelago that connects the limbic forebrain and brainstem (Berridge, 2003; Kelley et al., 2005a; Levine and Billington, 2004; Lundy, 2008; Peciña and Berridge, 2005; Smith and Berridge, 2005; Smith et al., 2010).”
Great Expectations: Using Whole-Brain Computational Connectomics for Understanding Neuropsychiatric Disorders (2014, background): “Causal evidence from other animals points to regions that act as pleasure generators or ‘hedonic hotspots’ which can help animals want, like and learn about the stimuli that help ensure survival (Peciña and Berridge, 2005).”
Pleasure systems in the brain (2015, background): “…spot in the rostrodorsal medial shell, microinjections of mu, delta, or kappa opioid agonists all double the ''liking'' reactions elicited by sucrose taste, as does endocannabinoid stimulation in its overlapping hot spot (Castro and Berridge, 2014; Mahler et al., 2007; Peciñ a and Berridge, 2005).”
Reward Processing by the Opioid System in the Brain (2009, neutral): “Pecina S, Berridge KC. Hedonic hot spot in nucleus accumbens shell: where do mu-opioids cause increased hedonic impact of sweetness?”
Hedonic Hotspots: Generating Sensory Pleasure in the Brain (2007, neutral): “By assigning the behavioral ‘liking’ enhancements we observe to the particular microinjection Fos plumes that cause them, we can map objective and precise plots of hedonic hotspots in the brain (Mahler et al., 2007; Peciña and Berridge, 2000; 2005; Peciña et al., 2006; Smith and Berridge, 2005).”
‘Liking’ and ‘wanting’ food rewards: Brain substrates and roles in eating disorders (2009, methodology): “Studies led by Susana Peciña in our laboratory found that within the cubic-millimeter hotspot site in the medial shell, microinjections of a drug (DAMGO) which activate the mu type of opioid receptor appear sufficient to enhance the pleasure gloss painted by the brain on sweetness sensation [53,55,7”
Orbitofrontal cortex and its contribution to decision-making. (2007, background): “To date, research dissociating these two systems has focused on subcortical and neurotransmitter systems rather than on cortical areas (Pecina & Berridge 2005, Wyvell & Berridge 2000).”
Ever-changing cycles of musical pleasure: The role of dopamine and anticipation. (2012, background): “This is especially likely given the evidence from other animals where opiate-mediated hedonic hotspots have been identified in the nucleus accumbens shell (Kringelbach & Berridge, 2009; Pecina & Berridge, 2005).”
Dissecting components of reward: ‘liking’, ‘wanting’, and learning (2009, background): “Current Opinion in Pharmacology 2009, 9:1–9 E D P R O O F nic hotspot, microinjection of the mu opioid agonist, DAMGO, doubles or triples the number of ‘liking’ reactions elicited by sucrose taste [14 ,28].”
Reward Mechanisms in Obesity: New Insights and Future Directions (2011, neutral): “New Insights and Future Directions”
The debate over dopamine’s role in reward: the case for incentive salience (2007, background): “…signals, all of which can markedly boost hedonic 'liking' reactions to sweetness (Berridge and Peciña 1995; Ferraro et al. 2002; Jarrett et al. 2005; Kaczmarek and Kiefer 2000; Mahler et al. 2004; Parker 1995; Parker et al. 1992; Peciña and Berridge 1995, 2000, 2005; Smith and Berridge 2005).”