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We elaborate herein a novel theory of basal ganglia function that accounts for why palatable, energy-dense foods retain high incentive value even when immediate physiological energy requirements have been met. Basal ganglia function has been studied from the perspective of topographical segregation of processing within parallel circuits, with primary focus on motor control and cognition. Recent findings suggest, however, that the striatum can act as an integrated unit to modulate motivational state. We describe evidence that the striatal enkephalin system, which regulates the hedonic impact of preferred foods, undergoes coordinated gene expression changes that track current motivational state with regard to food intake. Striatal enkephalin gene expression is also downregulated by an intrastriatal infusion of a cholinergic muscarinic antagonist, a manipulation that greatly suppresses food intake. To account for these findings, we propose that signaling through a hypothalamic-midline thalamic-striatal axis impinges on the cholinergic interneurons of the striatum, which via their large, overlapping axonal fields act as a network to modulate enkephalin-containing striatal output neurons. A key relay in this circuit is the paraventricular thalamic nucleus, which receives convergent input from orexin-coded hypothalamic energy-sensing and behavioral state-regulating neurons, as well as from circadian oscillators, and projects to cholinergic interneurons throughout the striatal complex. We hypothesize that this system evolved to coordinate feeding and arousal, and to prolong the feeding central motivational state beyond the fulfillment of acute energy needs, thereby promoting "overeating" and the consequent development of an energy reserve for potential future food shortages.

A double-label immunohistochemical study was carried out to investigate overlap between dopamine-beta-hydroxylase (DbetaH) -immunopositive projections and the projections of hypothalamic neurons containing the arousal- and feeding-related peptide, orexin/hypocretin (HCRT), in rat brain. Numerous intermingled HCRT-immunopositive and DbetaH-immunopositive fibers were seen in a ventrally situated corridor extending from the hypothalamus to deep layers of the infralimbic cortex. Both fiber types avoided the nucleus accumbens core, caudate putamen, and the globus pallidus. In the diencephalon, overlap was observed in several hypothalamic areas, including the perifornical, dorsomedial, and paraventricular nuclei, as well as in the paraventricular thalamic nucleus. Intermingled HCRT-containing and DbetaH-containing fibers extended from the hypothalamus into areas within the medial and central amygdala, terminating at the medial border of the lateral subdivision of the central nucleus of the amygdala. Dense overlap between the two fiber types was also observed in the periaqueductal gray, particularly in the vicinity of the dorsal raphe, as well as (to a lesser extent) in the ventral tegmental area, the retrorubral field, and the pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus. Hypocretin-containing cell bodies, located in the perifornical and lateral hypothalamus, were embedded within a dense plexus of DbetaH-immunopositive fibers and boutons, with numerous cases of apparent contacts of DbetaH-containing boutons onto HCRT-immunopositive soma and dendrites. HCRT-containing fibers were observed amid the noradrenergic cells of the locus coeruleus, and in the vicinity of the A1, A2, and A5 cell groups. Hence, the projections of these two arousal-related systems, originating in distinctly different parts of the brain, jointly target several forebrain regions and brainstem monoaminergic nuclei involved in regulating core motivational processes.

The heuristic framework outlined above may help explain why dopamine-compromising manipulations that strongly diminish instrumental goal-seeking behaviors leave consummatory activity relatively unaffected.

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