Off-campus UMass Amherst users: To download campus access dissertations, please use the following link to log into our proxy server with your UMass Amherst user name and password.
Non-UMass Amherst users: Please talk to your librarian about requesting this dissertation through interlibrary loan.
Dissertations that have an embargo placed on them will not be available to anyone until the embargo expires.
Author ORCID Identifier
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4918-6147
AccessType
Open Access Dissertation
Document Type
dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Degree Program
Neuroscience and Behavior
Year Degree Awarded
2021
Month Degree Awarded
September
First Advisor
David E. Moorman
Subject Categories
Behavioral Neurobiology | Cognitive Neuroscience | Systems Neuroscience
Abstract
Disorders associated with compulsive seeking of rewards, like binge-eating, are associated with abnormalities of the prefrontal cortex in humans, which is analogous to the prelimbic (PL) and infralimbic (IL) subregions of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in rodents. Although studies have examined the role of the mPFC in drug seeking behaviors, studies examining natural reward seeking behaviors (i.e. food and sucrose) are often unclear and contradictory. This dissertation aims to characterize the role of the PL and IL mPFC in operant sucrose seeking behaviors. We used pharmacological and chemogenetic tools to selectively inactivate the PL, IL and PL-nucleus accumbens (NAc) NAc during Fixed Ratio 1 (FR1), extinction, and cue-induced reinstatement. Furthermore, we describe the role of PL projections to the NAc in both highly-motivated rats (food restricted) and low-motivated rats (free fed) in operant sucrose seeking behaviors. Our results demonstrate that the IL subregion of the mPFC plays a role in the execution of reward seeking behaviors during extinction (i.e. well entries) and cue-induced reinstatement (i.e. nose poking). Additionally, our results demonstrate that the PL plays a role in inhibiting reward seeking during FR1 (i.e. nose pokes and rewarded well entries). However, the PL seems to play a role in promoting reward seeking during extinction (i.e. nose poking and well entries). We also observed that inactivating PL-NAc in food restricted rats during extinction and cue-induced reinstatement suppresses behaviors that do not result in reward delivery (i.e., inactive lever presses). In free fed rats, PL-NAc inhibits reward seeking behaviors (i.e. initiated trials) during cue-induced reinstatement. Our findings support our claim that the mPFC and its projections differentially control reward seeking behaviors depending on the behavioral (e.g., FR1, extinction, or cue-induced reinstatement) and motivational context (e.g., level of satiety) of animals. Understanding the function of the mPFC will give insight to understand and develop specialized therapies to treat and cure disorders like binge-eating, as well as other diseases associated with the mPFC, like substance use disorders.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7275/24361850
Recommended Citation
Caballero-Feliciano, Jessica, "Role of the Prefrontal Cortex in Reward Seeking Behaviors" (2021). Doctoral Dissertations. 2282.
https://doi.org/10.7275/24361850
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/2282
Included in
Behavioral Neurobiology Commons, Cognitive Neuroscience Commons, Systems Neuroscience Commons