Effects of the psychoactive compounds in green tea on risky decision-making

Abstract

Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) and caffeine are the two primary compounds found in green tea. While EGCG has anxiolytic and anti-inflammatory effects, its acute effects on cognition are not well understood. Furthermore, despite widespread green tea consumption, little is known about how EGCG and caffeine co-administration impacts behavior. Here, we investigated the effects of multiple doses of either EGCG or caffeine on a rat model of risktaking. This was assessed using the risky decision-making task (RDT), in which rats choose between a small, welltolerated reward and a large reward with escalating risk of mild footshock. Rats were tested in RDT after acute systemic administration of EGCG, caffeine or joint EGCG and caffeine. EGCG caused a dose-dependent reduction in risk-taking without affecting reward discrimination or task engagement. Caffeine did not impact risk-taking, but elevated locomotor activity and reduced task engagement at high doses. Finally, exposure to both EGCG and caffeine had no effect on risk-taking, suggesting that low-dose caffeine is sufficient to mask the risk-aversion caused by EGCG. These data suggest EGCG as a potential therapeutic treatment for psychological disorders that induce compulsive risky decision-making. Behavioural

Lateral Orbitofrontal Cortex Encodes Presence of Risk and Subjective Risk Preference During Decision-Making

“…The abridged version of RDT used here produced robust individual differences in risk preference, replicating previous observations with standard RDT 3,4,[17][18][19]22,23,25,26,100 . Differences in subjective risk preference were accompanied by differences in risk and reward magnitude signaling in lOFC, and Random Forest choice classification using trial X trial neuronal data was sufficient to predict subjective risk preference.…”

“…The rat Risky Decision-making Task (RDT) measures preference between small, safe rewards and larger rewards accompanied by the risk of physical punishment 3 . Critically, the RDT consistently yields a wide range of individual risk-preferences similar to that observed in human populations 4,[15][16][17][18] , including a subpopulation of "risk-preferring" rats that demonstrate preference for risky rewards regardless of high probabilities of punishment 2,[19][20][21] . Despite showing no distinctions from the rest of the population in pain tolerance, weight, anxiety-like behavior, or gross measures of motivation 22 , risk-preferring rats exhibit several behavioral traits associated with vulnerability to SUD, including elevated cocaine self-administration 21,23 , nicotine sensitivity and resilience to nicotine-evoked anxiety 17 , sensitivity to reward-predictive cues 24 , and increased impulsive action 17,24,25 .…”