Neuroscience Research Institute and Department of Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100083, P. R. China.
CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, 100101, China.
J Physiol. 2019 Sep;597(18):4851-4860. doi: 10.1113/JP278301. Epub 2019 Aug 21.
Neuroimaging studies have shown that the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is consistently activated by thirst and may underlie the affective motivation of drinking behaviour demanded by thirst. But direct evidence for this hypothesis is lacking. The present study evaluated potential correlations between ACC neuronal activity and drinking behaviour in rats injected with different concentrations of saline. We observed an increased number of c-Fos-positive neurons in the ACC after injection of hypertonic saline, indicating strong ACC neuronal activation under hyperosmotic thirst. Increased firing rates of putative ACC pyramidal neurons preceded drinking behaviour and positively correlated with both the total duration of drinking and the total amount of water consumed. Chemogenetic inhibition of ACC pyramidal neurons changed drinking behaviour from an explosive and short-lasting pattern to a gradual but more persistent pattern, without affecting either the total duration of drinking or the total amount of water consumed. Together, these findings support a role of the ACC in modulating the affective-motivative dimension of hyperosmolality-induced thirst.
神经影像学研究表明，前扣带皮层（ACC）一直受到口渴的激活，可能是口渴引起的饮酒行为的情感动机的基础。但这一假设缺乏直接证据。本研究评估了在注射不同浓度盐水的大鼠中，ACC 神经元活性与饮酒行为之间的潜在相关性。我们观察到，在注射高渗盐水后，ACC 中的 c-Fos 阳性神经元数量增加，表明在高渗性口渴下，ACC 神经元强烈激活。拟议的 ACC 锥体神经元的放电率增加先于饮酒行为，并与总饮酒时间和总耗水量呈正相关。ACC 锥体神经元的化学遗传抑制将饮酒行为从爆发性和短暂性模式转变为逐渐但更持久的模式，而不影响总饮酒时间或总耗水量。这些发现共同支持了 ACC 在调节渗透压诱导的口渴的情感动机维度中的作用。
