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conferenceseries
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Volume 8, Issue 6
J Neurol Neurosci
ISSN: 2171-6625 Neuro, an open access journal
Neuroscience 2017
October 16-17, 2017
OCTOBER 16-17, 2017 OSAKA, JAPAN
17
TH
Global Neuroscience Conference
Intra-nucleus accumbens gastrin-releasing peptide: The effects on reward processing and feeding
behavior
Abunada Mohamed
1
, Kent Pam
2
and Merali Zul
2
1
University of Ottawa, Canada
2
The Royal Institute of Mental Health Research, Canada
G
astrin-Releasing Peptide (GRP) is the mammalian counterpart of the amphibian peptide Bombesin (BB) and is known
to act as a satiety peptide to suppress feeding. Receptors for GRP are widespread throughout the central nervous system
with particular abundance in the Nucleus Accumbens (NAcc), a structure that is part of the mesolimbic dopamine pathway
linked with reward. Our lab revealed that an injection of GRP (1.7 g/L) directed at the NAcc caused an immediate and
significant release of dopamine. This finding provided evidence of involvement of GRP in reward processing. The objective of
this experiment is to assess the effects of intra- NAcc microinjections of GRP (0.87, 1.7 g/L) and systemic D-amphetamine (1
mg/kg) in a behavioral paradigm linked to reward and motivation, operant responding for food reward using a progressive
ratio (PR) schedule of reinforcement. It is hypothesized that GRP will increase the number of food rewards obtained. Sprague-
Dawley rats were trained to lever press on a PR schedule of reinforcement for sugar pellet food reward followed by observation
of feeding behavior. Injections of GRP and D-amphetamine significantly increased the number of food rewards obtained,
suggesting increased motivation for food reward and did not affect feeding behavior, suggesting involvement in pathway’s
distinct from the satiety pathway. This is likely through the activation of mesolimbic dopamine neurons, which can be
investigated in future studies.
mohamed_abunada@hotmail.comJ Neurol Neurosci 2017, 8:6
DOI: 10.21767/2171-6625-C1-006