Environmental enrichment decreases responding for visual novelty

Cain, Mary E.; Green, Thomas A.; Bardo, Michael T.

doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2006.08.007

Cited by 62 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…We are currently examining other variables that may affect OSS performance. While it is known that static visual stimuli are capable of serving as reinforcers in mice 17 , it is unknown whether the approach of enhancing the dynamics of the stimuli that we and others have employed 20,22,23 lead to increased reinforcement in the current conditions. Another variable that may affect OSS is mouse strain.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

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Operant Sensation Seeking in the Mouse

Olsen

Winder

2010

JoVE

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Operant methods are powerful behavioral tools for the study of motivated behavior. These 'self-administration' methods have been used extensively in drug addiction research due to their high construct validity. Operant studies provide researchers a tool for preclinical investigation of several aspects of the addiction process. For example, mechanisms of acute reinforcement (both drug and non-drug) can be tested using pharmacological or genetic tools to determine the ability of a molecular target to influence self-administration behavior 1-6 . Additionally, drug or food seeking behaviors can be studied in the absence of the primary reinforcer, and the ability of pharmacological compounds to disrupt this process is a preclinical model for discovery of molecular targets and compounds that may be useful for the treatment of addiction 3,7-9 . One problem with performing intravenous drug self-administration studies in the mouse is the technical difficulty of maintaining catheter patency. Attrition rates in these experiments are high and can reach 40% or higher [10][11][12][13][14][15] . Another general problem with drug self-administration is discerning which pharmacologically-induced effects of the reinforcer produce specific behaviors. For example, measurement of the reinforcing and neurological effects of psychostimulants can be confounded by their psychomotor effects. Operant methods using food reinforcement can avoid these pitfalls, although their utility in studying drug addiction is limited by the fact that some manipulations that alter drug self-administration have a minimal impact on food self-administration. For example, mesolimbic dopamine lesion or knockout of the D1 dopamine receptor reduce cocaine self-administration without having a significant impact on food self-administration 12,16 . Sensory stimuli have been described for their ability to support operant responding as primary reinforcers (i.e. not conditioned reinforcers) [17][18][19][20][21][22] . Auditory and visual stimuli are self-administered by several species 18,21,23 , although surprisingly little is known about the neural mechanisms underlying this reinforcement. The operant sensation seeking (OSS) model is a robust model for obtaining sensory self-administration in the mouse, allowing the study of neural mechanisms important in sensory reinforcement 24 . An additional advantage of OSS is the ability to screen mutant mice for differences in operant behavior that may be relevant to addiction. We have reported that dopamine D1 receptor knockout mice, previously shown to be deficient in psychostimulant self-administration, also fail to acquire OSS 24 . This is a unique finding in that these mice are capable of learning an operant task when food is used as a reinforcer. While operant studies using food reinforcement can be useful in the study of general motivated behavior and the mechanisms underlying food reinforcement, as mentioned above, these studies are limited in their application to studying molecular mechanisms of drug addiction...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…not conditioned reinforcers) [17][18][19][20][21][22] . Auditory and visual stimuli are self-administered by several species 18,21,23 , although surprisingly little is known about the neural mechanisms underlying this reinforcement.…”

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confidence: 99%

Operant Sensation Seeking in the Mouse

Olsen

Winder

2010

JoVE

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“…The present pattern of results is consistent with previous reports of the effects of rearing conditions on reward sensitivity, incentive motivation, and impulsivity (e.g., Kirkpatrick et al, 2013). IC rats have frequently been reported to display greater locomotor activity than EC rats (e.g., Simpson & Kelly, 2011) and greater response rates when working for rewards (Cain, Green, & Bardo, 2006; Kirkpatrick et al, 2013), which has been interpreted as being due to greater reward sensitivity and incentive motivation in IC rats compared to EC rats (e.g., Beckmann & Bardo, 2012; Brenes & Fornaguera, 2008; Fone & Porkess, 2008; Kirkpatrick et al, 2013; Lapiz et al, 2003). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual differences in impulsive and risky choice: Effects of environmental rearing conditions

Kirkpatrick

Marshall

Smith

et al. 2014

Behavioural Brain Research

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The present experiment investigated early-rearing environment modulation of individual differences in impulsive and risky choice. Rats were reared in an isolated condition (IC; n = 12), in which they lived alone without novel stimuli, or an enriched condition (EC; n = 12), in which they lived among conspecifics with novel stimuli. The impulsive choice task involved choices between smaller-sooner (SS) versus larger-later (LL) rewards. The risky choice task involved choices between certain-smaller (C-S) versus uncertain-larger (U-L) rewards. Following choice testing, incentive motivation to work for food was measured using a progressive ratio task and correlated with choice behavior. HPLC analyses were conducted to determine how monoamine concentrations within the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and nucleus accumbens (NAC) related to behavior in different tasks. IC rats were more impulsive than EC rats, but they did not differ in risky choice behavior. However, choice behavior across tasks was significantly correlated (i.e., the more impulsive rats were also riskier). There were no group differences in monoamine levels, but noradrenergic and serotonergic concentrations were significantly correlated with impulsive and risky choice. Furthermore, serotonin and norepinephrine concentrations in the NAC significantly correlated with incentive motivation and the timing of the reward delays within the choice tasks. These results suggest a role for domain general processes in impulsive and risky choice and indicate the importance of the NAC and/or PFC in timing, reward processing, and choice behavior.

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“…Alternatively, since rats were exposed to only the two end compartments during conditioning, IC rats may have displayed a greater preference than EC rats due to the relative novelty of the center gray on the test day. Supporting this latter possibility, novel visual stimuli are more reinforcing in IC rats than EC rats [31]. …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental enrichment reduces methamphetamine cue-induced reinstatement but does not alter methamphetamine reward or VMAT2 function

Hofford

Darna

Wilmouth

et al. 2014

Behavioural Brain Research

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Environmental factors influence a variety of health-related outcomes. In general, being raised in an environment possessing social, sensory, and motor enrichment reduces the rewarding effects of various drugs, thus protecting against abuse vulnerability. However, in the case of methamphetamine (METH), which acts at the vesicular monoamine transporter 2 (VMAT2) to enhance dopamine release from the cytosol, previous evidence suggests that METH reward may not be altered by environmental enrichment. This study examined the influence of an enriched environment on measures of METH reward, METH seeking, and VMAT2 function. Rats were raised from weaning to adulthood in either an enriched environment (presence of social cohorts and novel objects) or an isolated environment (no cohorts or novel objects). Rats in these two conditions were subsequently tested for their acquisition of conditioned place preference (CPP), METH self-administration, maintenance of self-administration at various unit doses of METH (0.001–0.5 mg/kg/infusion), and cue-induced reinstatement. VMAT2 function in striatum from these two groups also was assessed. No significant environment effects were found in CPP or METH self-administration, which paralleled a lack of effect in VMAT2 function between groups. However, cue-induced reinstatement was reduced by environmental enrichment. Together, these results suggest that environmental enrichment does not alter VMAT2 function involved in METH reward. However, the enrichment-induced decrease in cue-induced reinstatement indicates that enrichment may have a beneficial effect against relapse following a period of extinction via a neural mechanism other than striatal VMAT2 function.

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Environmental enrichment decreases responding for visual novelty

Cited by 62 publications

References 29 publications

Operant Sensation Seeking in the Mouse

Operant Sensation Seeking in the Mouse

Individual differences in impulsive and risky choice: Effects of environmental rearing conditions

Environmental enrichment reduces methamphetamine cue-induced reinstatement but does not alter methamphetamine reward or VMAT2 function

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