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Behavioral and neural alterations of the ventral tegmental area by exposure to junk food in rats.

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Τίτλος: Behavioral and neural alterations of the ventral tegmental area by exposure to junk food in rats.
Συγγραφείς: Lalanza JF; Department of Psychology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Huginbakken 32, 9037, Tromsø, Norway., Oyem JC; Department of Psychology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Huginbakken 32, 9037, Tromsø, Norway., Huijgens PT; Department of Psychology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Huginbakken 32, 9037, Tromsø, Norway., McCutcheon JE; Department of Psychology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Huginbakken 32, 9037, Tromsø, Norway., Heijkoop R; Department of Psychology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Huginbakken 32, 9037, Tromsø, Norway., Snoeren EMS; Department of Psychology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Huginbakken 32, 9037, Tromsø, Norway. Electronic address: eelke.snoeren@uit.no.
Πηγή: Appetite [Appetite] 2025 Oct 01; Vol. 214, pp. 108146. Date of Electronic Publication: 2025 May 23.
Τύπος έκδοσης: Journal Article
Γλώσσα: English
Στοιχεία περιοδικού: Publisher: Academic Press Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 8006808 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1095-8304 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 01956663 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Appetite Subsets: MEDLINE
Imprint Name(s): Original Publication: London, New York, Academic Press.
Ιατρικοί όροι (MeSH): Ventral Tegmental Area*/physiology , Feeding Behavior*/physiology , Behavior, Animal* , Diet*, Animals ; Female ; Reward ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Sexual Behavior, Animal ; Eating
Περίληψη: The brain reward system is essential for regulating appetitive and consummatory behaviors in response to various incentive stimuli. Junk food, characterized by its high palatability, is particularly associated with the potential for excessive consumption. While prior studies indicate that excessive junk food intake can impact reward circuitry, the precise mechanisms underlying these effects remain elusive. Furthermore, it is unclear whether the functionality of this neural system is similarly altered in response to other natural rewards. In this study, we used fiber photometry combined with a behavioral reward test to investigate the effects of six weeks of excessive cafeteria (CAF) diet consumption on ventral tegmental area (VTA) neural activity and behavioral responses to food and sexual rewards in female rats. Our findings demonstrate that prolonged exposure to a CAF diet reduced the exploration and consumption of food rewards. These behavioral changes were accompanied by attenuated neural activity in the VTA. Similarly, reductions in VTA activity were observed in response to a sexual partner, although no significant behavioral differences were detected during sexual interactions. Moreover, a two-week reversal diet of standard chow proved insufficient to restore VTA neural activity in CAF-exposed animals, which continued to exhibit decreased VTA responses to both food rewards and sexual partners. Our results suggest that prolonged junk food exposure induces desensitization of the VTA, resulting in reduced responsiveness to natural rewards.
(Copyright © 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no competing interests.
Contributed Indexing: Keywords: Food; High energy diet; Reward; Sexual behavior; Ventral tegmental area; cafeteria diet; rat
Entry Date(s): Date Created: 20250525 Date Completed: 20250907 Latest Revision: 20260525
Update Code: 20260525
DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2025.108146
PMID: 40414303
Βάση Δεδομένων: MEDLINE
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  – Url: https://www.doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2025.108146?
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  Data: Behavioral and neural alterations of the ventral tegmental area by exposure to junk food in rats.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AU" term="%22Lalanza+JF%22">Lalanza JF</searchLink>; Department of Psychology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Huginbakken 32, 9037, Tromsø, Norway.<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AU" term="%22Oyem+JC%22">Oyem JC</searchLink>; Department of Psychology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Huginbakken 32, 9037, Tromsø, Norway.<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AU" term="%22Huijgens+PT%22">Huijgens PT</searchLink>; Department of Psychology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Huginbakken 32, 9037, Tromsø, Norway.<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AU" term="%22McCutcheon+JE%22">McCutcheon JE</searchLink>; Department of Psychology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Huginbakken 32, 9037, Tromsø, Norway.<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AU" term="%22Heijkoop+R%22">Heijkoop R</searchLink>; Department of Psychology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Huginbakken 32, 9037, Tromsø, Norway.<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AU" term="%22Snoeren+EMS%22">Snoeren EMS</searchLink>; Department of Psychology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Huginbakken 32, 9037, Tromsø, Norway. Electronic address: eelke.snoeren@uit.no.
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  Data: The brain reward system is essential for regulating appetitive and consummatory behaviors in response to various incentive stimuli. Junk food, characterized by its high palatability, is particularly associated with the potential for excessive consumption. While prior studies indicate that excessive junk food intake can impact reward circuitry, the precise mechanisms underlying these effects remain elusive. Furthermore, it is unclear whether the functionality of this neural system is similarly altered in response to other natural rewards. In this study, we used fiber photometry combined with a behavioral reward test to investigate the effects of six weeks of excessive cafeteria (CAF) diet consumption on ventral tegmental area (VTA) neural activity and behavioral responses to food and sexual rewards in female rats. Our findings demonstrate that prolonged exposure to a CAF diet reduced the exploration and consumption of food rewards. These behavioral changes were accompanied by attenuated neural activity in the VTA. Similarly, reductions in VTA activity were observed in response to a sexual partner, although no significant behavioral differences were detected during sexual interactions. Moreover, a two-week reversal diet of standard chow proved insufficient to restore VTA neural activity in CAF-exposed animals, which continued to exhibit decreased VTA responses to both food rewards and sexual partners. Our results suggest that prolonged junk food exposure induces desensitization of the VTA, resulting in reduced responsiveness to natural rewards.<br /> (Copyright © 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)
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  Data: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no competing interests.
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  Data: <i>Keywords: </i>Food; High energy diet; Reward; Sexual behavior; Ventral tegmental area; cafeteria diet; rat
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