Dopamine antagonists act on central, but not peripheral, receptors to inhibit sham and real feeding

Smoking-Induced Ventral Striatum Dopamine Release

“…http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org with craving reduction and satiety. This relationship is supported by research with animal models of nicotine dependence (43), other drug dependencies (44,45), food (46,47), and sex (48,49). The current findings are also in agreement with the prior report of euphoria ratings correlating inversely with [ 11 C]raclopride binding potential in the ventral striatum (17) (assuming that craving and euphoria are opposing states).…”

Reward-representing D1-type neurons in the medial shell of the accumbens nucleus regulate palatable food intake

“…Quite remarkably, activation of these neurons is proportional to the quantity of SCM consumed. The amount of activated cells may depend on the amount of dopamine released, which may happen, as for example dopamine release occurs proportionally to the concentration of sucrose provided to rats [48, 49]. Higher SCM consumption, however, did not evoke a higher number of Fos+ cells in PRs, as it would be expected if intensified responsiveness for feeding reward was assumed.…”

Oral sucrose stimulation increases accumbens dopamine in the rat

“…Although its exact role remains controversial (10,21,35,40), in the rat both natural and nonnatural (i.e., drug of abuse) rewards activate DA neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA; A10) that project to the ventral striatum, predominantly to the medial shell of the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) (11,70). The evidence for the involvement of DA systems in sucrose reward derives from studies that demon-strate a suppression of both real and sham feeding by systemically applied DA antagonists (22,25,34,56,57,66). Conversely, manipulations that increase DA levels also enhance preference for and real intake of sucrose (12,29,62,69).…”