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Individual variation in incentive salience attribution and accumbens dopamine transporter expression and function
Author(s) -
Singer Bryan F.,
Guptaroy Bipasha,
Austin Curtis J.,
Wohl Isabella,
Lovic Vedran,
Seiler Jillian L.,
Vaughan Roxanne A.,
Gnegy Margaret E.,
Robinson Terry E.,
Aragona Brandon J.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
european journal of neuroscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.346
H-Index - 206
eISSN - 1460-9568
pISSN - 0953-816X
DOI - 10.1111/ejn.13134
Subject(s) - incentive salience , nucleus accumbens , dopamine , dopamine transporter , psychology , neuroscience , amphetamine , salience (neuroscience) , chemistry , dopaminergic
Abstract Cues (conditioned stimuli; CS s) associated with rewards can come to motivate behavior, but there is considerable individual variation in their ability to do so. For example, a lever‐ CS that predicts food reward becomes attractive and wanted, and elicits reward‐seeking behavior, to a greater extent in some rats (‘sign‐trackers’; ST s) than others (‘goal‐trackers’; GT s). Variation in dopamine ( DA ) neurotransmission in the nucleus accumbens ( NA c) core is thought to contribute to such individual variation. Given that the DA transporter ( DAT ) exerts powerful regulation over DA signaling, we characterized the expression and function of the DAT in the accumbens of ST s and GT s. ST s showed greater DAT surface expression in ventral striatal synaptosomes than GT s, and ex vivo fast‐scan cyclic voltammetry recordings of electrically evoked DA release confirmed enhanced DAT function in ST s, as indicated by faster DA uptake, specifically in the NA c core. Consistent with this, systemic amphetamine ( AMPH ) produced greater inhibition of DA uptake in ST s than in GT s. Furthermore, injection of AMPH directly into the NA c core enhanced lever‐directed approach in ST s, presumably by amplifying the incentive value of the CS , but had no effect on goal‐tracking behavior. On the other hand, there were no differences between ST s and GT s in electrically‐evoked DA release in slices, or in total ventral striatal DA content. We conclude that greater DAT surface expression may facilitate the attribution of incentive salience to discrete reward cues. Investigating this variability in animal sub‐populations may help explain why some people abuse drugs while others do not.