Department of Psychology, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, 38152-3520, USA.
College of Health Sciences, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, 38152-3520, USA.
Neurosci Lett. 2021 Jun 21;756:135952. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2021.135952. Epub 2021 May 9.
Natural rewards, such as food and social interaction, as well as drugs of abuse elicit increased mesolimbic dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens (NAc). Drugs of abuse, however, increase NAc dopamine release to a greater extent and are known to induce lasting changes on the functioning of the mesolimbic dopamine pathway. Less is known about the long-term effects of diet composition on this reward pathway. In the present study, two diets were compared: a higher-fat diet (Western Diet: WD) and a control diet (standard lab chow) on their effect on the mesolimbic dopamine system. Twenty male C57BL/6 J mice were placed on one of these diets at 7 weeks old. After twelve weeks on the diet, in vivo fixed potential amperometry was used to measure real-time stimulation-evoked dopamine release in the NAc of anesthetized mice before and after an i.p. injection of the dopamine transporter (DAT) inhibitor nomifensine. Results indicated that diet altered mesolimbic dopamine functioning. Mice that consumed the WD demonstrated a hypodopaminergic profile, specifically reduced baseline dopamine release and an attenuated dopaminergic response to DAT inhibition compared to the control diet group. Thus, diet may play a role in mediating dopamine-related behavior, disorders associated with dopamine dysfunction, and pharmacological treatments aimed at altering dopamine transmission.
自然奖励，如食物和社交互动，以及滥用药物，会导致伏隔核（NAc）中的中脑边缘多巴胺释放增加。然而，滥用药物会更大程度地增加 NAc 多巴胺的释放，并已知会对中脑边缘多巴胺通路的功能产生持久的影响。关于饮食成分对这种奖励途径的长期影响知之甚少。在本研究中，比较了两种饮食：高脂肪饮食（西方饮食：WD）和对照饮食（标准实验室饲料）对中脑边缘多巴胺系统的影响。20 只雄性 C57BL/6J 小鼠在 7 周大时开始分别食用其中一种饮食。在饮食 12 周后，通过在麻醉小鼠的 NAc 中使用固定电位安培法，在腹腔内注射多巴胺转运蛋白（DAT）抑制剂金刚烷胺前后测量实时刺激诱发的多巴胺释放。结果表明，饮食改变了中脑边缘多巴胺功能。食用 WD 的小鼠表现出低多巴胺能谱，具体表现为基础多巴胺释放减少，以及对 DAT 抑制的多巴胺反应减弱，与对照饮食组相比。因此，饮食可能在调节与多巴胺相关的行为、与多巴胺功能障碍相关的疾病以及旨在改变多巴胺传递的药物治疗中发挥作用。
