Lateral Hypothalamus GABAergic Neurons Modulate Consummatory Behaviors Regardless of the Caloric Content or Biological Relevance of the Consumed Stimuli

Neuropsychopharmacology (2016) 41, 15051512

2016 American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. All rights reserved 0893-133X/16 http://www.neuropsychopharmacology.org

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Lateral Hypothalamus GABAergic Neurons Modulate Consummatory Behaviors Regardless of the Caloric Content or Biological Relevance of the Consumed Stimuli

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Montserrat Navarro1,2, Jeffrey J Olney1,2, Nathan W Burnham1,2, Christopher M Mazzone2,3, Emily G Lowery-Gionta2,3, Kristen E Pleil2,3, Thomas L Kash2,3 and Todd E Thiele*,1,2

1Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA; 2Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA; 3Department of Pharmacology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

It was recently reported that activation of a subset of lateral hypothalamus (LH) GABAergic neurons induced both appetitive (food-seeking) and consummatory (eating) behaviors in vGat-ires-cre mice, while inhibition or deletion of GABAergic neurons blunted these behaviors. As food and caloric-dense liquid solutions were used, the data reported suggest that these LH GABAergic neurons may modulate behaviors that function to maintain homeostatic caloric balance. Here we report that chemogenetic activation of this GABAergic population in vGat-ires-cre mice increased consummatory behavior directed at any available stimulus, including those entailing calories (food, sucrose, and ethanol), those that do not (saccharin and water), and those lacking biological relevance (wood). Chemogenetic inhibition of these neurons attenuated consummatory behaviors. These data indicate that LH GABAergic neurons modulate consummatory behaviors regardless of the caloric content or biological relevance of the consumed stimuli. Neuropsychopharmacology (2016) 41, 15051512; doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/npp.2015.304

Web End =10.1038/npp.2015.304 ; published online 28 October 2015

INTRODUCTION

Numerous points of evidence spanning many years have implicated the lateral hypothalamus (LH) in modulating the consumption of rewarding stimuli. The LH was originally implicated in modulating feeding behavior by evidence demonstrating that lesions of the LH reduced food consumption while electrical stimulation of this region promoted food intake (Anand and Brobeck, 1951; Delgado and Anand, 1953). It was later shown that rodents will work for electrical stimulation of LH neurons in proportion to their energy balance (Hoebel and Teitelbaum, 1962; Hoebel and Thompson, 1969), direct evidence that the LH is critical in reward-seeking behaviors. Since these original observations, research has shown that the LH not only modulates consummatory behaviors directed at natural rewards, such as food and water, but is also a critical region in supporting...