CRF neurons in the paraventricular thalamus reduce food-seeking behavior

TERZIAN, A.B.; ENGELKE, D.S.; NAIM-RASHEED, MARIA; LI, S.; O'MALLEY, J.; DASGUPTA, R.; FERNANDEZ LEON, JOSE A.; JUSTICE, N.; BEIERLEIN, M.; KIROUAC, G.J.; DO-MONTE, F.H.

Conferencia; 2018 SfN Neuroscience; 2018

The paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) regulates behavioral responses under emotionally arousing conditions. Photoactivation of anterior PVT (aPVT) neurons abolishes sucrose seeking and induces aversive behaviors in rodents. However, the specific aPVT neuronal subpopulation regulating these functions remains unknown. The stress neuropeptide corticotropin‐releasing factor (CRF) has been shown to reduce food intake and induce anxiety-like behavior in different species. Interestingly, a recent neuroanatomical study demonstrated that CRF neurons are present in the aPVT, but their physiological functions have never been explored. To assess the role of aPVT-CRF neurons during sucrose seeking, adult male Long-Evans rats were infused with a mixture of viral vectors (AAV-CRF-Cre and AAV-ChR2-DIO-eYFP) to express channelrhodopsin in aPVT-CRF neurons. Animals were trained in a reward conditioning task, where each bar press during a 30s cue tone delivered a sugar pellet in a nearby dish. High-frequency photoactivation of aPVT CRF neurons (20 Hz, 5ms pulse width, 10 mW) during the cue tone reduced bar presses when compared to the eYFP-Control group (aPVT-CRF-ChR2, presses/min: Laser OFF: 14.5±1.4, Laser ON: 4.2±1.1; eYFP-Control, presses/min: Laser OFF: 17.5±1.1, Laser ON: 18.8±1.2, p