Electrophysiological responses to appetitive and consummatory behavior in the rostral nucleus tractus solitarius in awake, unrestrained rats
As the intermediate nucleus in the brainstem receiving information from the tongue and transmitting information upstream, the rostral portion of the nucleus tractus solitarius (rNTS) is most often described as a "taste relay". Although recent evidence implicates the caudal NTS in a broad n...
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| Published in: | Frontiers in integrative neuroscience Vol. 18; p. 1430950 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Switzerland
Frontiers Media S.A
16-07-2024
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| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | As the intermediate nucleus in the brainstem receiving information from the tongue and transmitting information upstream, the rostral portion of the nucleus tractus solitarius (rNTS) is most often described as a "taste relay". Although recent evidence implicates the caudal NTS in a broad neural circuit involved in regulating ingestion, there is little information about how cells in the rNTS respond when an animal is eating solid food.
Single cells in the rNTS were recorded in awake, unrestrained rats as they explored and ate solid foods (Eating paradigm) chosen to correspond to the basic taste qualities: milk chocolate for sweet, salted peanuts for salty, Granny Smith apples for sour and broccoli for bitter. A subset of cells was also recorded as the animal licked exemplars of the five basic taste qualities: sucrose, NaCl, citric acid, quinine and MSG (Lick paradigm).
Most cells were excited by exploration of a food-filled well, sometimes responding prior to contact with the food. In contrast, cells that were excited by food well exploration became significantly less active while the animal was eating the food. Most cells were broadly tuned across foods, and those cells that were recorded in both the Lick and Eating paradigms showed little correspondence in their tuning across paradigms.
The preponderance of robust responses to the appetitive versus the consummatory phase of ingestion suggests that multimodal convergence onto cells in the rNTS may be used in decision making about ingestion. |
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| Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Edited by: Ranier Gutierrez, Center for Research and Advanced Studies, National Polytechnic Institute of Mexico (CINVESTAV), Mexico Yoav Livneh, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel These authors have contributed equally to this work Present address: Flynn P. O’Connell, Elizabeth R. Miller Brain Observatory, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, United States Reviewed by: Isaac Obed Pérez Martínez, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico |
| ISSN: | 1662-5145 1662-5145 |
| DOI: | 10.3389/fnint.2024.1430950 |