Elsevier

Biological Psychiatry

Volume 71, Issue 4, 15 February 2012, Pages 327-334
Biological Psychiatry

Archival Report
Catecholamines in the Bed Nucleus of the Stria Terminalis Reciprocally Respond to Reward and Aversion

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2011.10.017Get rights and content

Background

Traditionally, norepinephrine has been associated with stress responses, whereas dopamine has been associated with reward. Both of these catecholamines are found within the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST), a brain relay nucleus in the extended amygdala between cortical/limbic centers, and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Despite this colocalization, little is known about subsecond catecholamine signaling in subregions of the BNST in response to salient stimuli.

Methods

Changes in extracellular catecholamine concentration in subregions of the BNST in response to salient stimuli were measured within the rat BNST with fast-scan cyclic voltammetry at carbon-fiber microelectrodes.

Results

A discrete subregional distribution of release events was observed for different catecholamines in this nucleus. In addition, rewarding and aversive tastants evoked inverse patterns of norepinephrine and dopamine release in the BNST. An aversive stimulus, quinine, activated noradrenergic signaling but inhibited dopaminergic signaling, whereas a palatable stimulus, sucrose, inhibited norepinephrine while causing dopamine release.

Conclusions

This reciprocal relationship, coupled with their different time courses, can provide integration of opposing hedonic states to influence response outputs appropriate for survival.

Section snippets

Animals and Surgery

Male Sprague-Dawley rats (320–420 g; Charles River, Wilmington, Massachusetts) were anesthetized with ketamine hydrochloride (100 mg/kg) and xylazine hydrochloride (20 mg/kg), and stereotaxic surgeries for electrochemical recordings were performed as described previously (8). Small holes in the skull were drilled for reference (silver/silver chloride) and stimulating electrodes as well as for carbon-fiber microelectrodes. A guide cannula (Bioanalytical Systems, West Lafayette, Illinois) for

Depth Profile of Evoked Catecholamine Release in the BNST Pathways

The subregions of the BNST targeted in this work are quite small (approximately 200 μm across in the horizontal plane for the dlBNST). However, as we showed in the vBNST of anesthetized animals (18), evoked catecholamine release yields distinct responses as the position of the electrode is lowered, and these responses can be used to guide microelectrode placement. In these experiments, the detachable micromanipulator was implanted directly above the targeted region, and the electrode was

Discussion

The data presented here provide the first subsecond measurements of catecholamines in the BNST of an ambulatory rat. These measurements reveal an unanticipated reciprocal relationship in the extracellular concentration changes of norepinephrine and dopamine in response to aversive and palatable tastants. The signal in the vBNST is primarily due to norepinephrine, as previously established in anesthetized animals (18); as shown here, dopamine is the predominant releasable catecholamine in the dl

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