Publication Type Academic Article
Authors Ferenczi E, Zalocusky K, Liston C, Grosenick L, Warden M, Amatya D, Katovich K, Mehta H, Patenaude B, Ramakrishnan C, Kalanithi P, Etkin A, Knutson B, Glover G, Deisseroth K
Journal Science
Volume 351
Issue 6268
Pagination aac9698
Date Published 01/01/2016
ISSN 1095-9203
Keywords Anhedonia, Corpus Striatum, Dopaminergic Neurons, Motivation, Prefrontal Cortex, Reward
Abstract Motivation for reward drives adaptive behaviors, whereas impairment of reward perception and experience (anhedonia) can contribute to psychiatric diseases, including depression and schizophrenia. We sought to test the hypothesis that the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) controls interactions among specific subcortical regions that govern hedonic responses. By using optogenetic functional magnetic resonance imaging to locally manipulate but globally visualize neural activity in rats, we found that dopamine neuron stimulation drives striatal activity, whereas locally increased mPFC excitability reduces this striatal response and inhibits the behavioral drive for dopaminergic stimulation. This chronic mPFC overactivity also stably suppresses natural reward-motivated behaviors and induces specific new brainwide functional interactions, which predict the degree of anhedonia in individuals. These findings describe a mechanism by which mPFC modulates expression of reward-seeking behavior, by regulating the dynamical interactions between specific distant subcortical regions.
DOI 10.1126/science.aac9698
PubMed ID 26722001
PubMed Central ID PMC4772156
Back to Top