Conditioned Place Preference/Avoidance
Objective: Measure conditioned place preference or avoidance following muscimol microinjection in nucleus accumbens shell to test whether rostral shell produces positive motivational states and caudal shell produces negative states
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Equipment2
Materials3
Software1
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Protocol Steps
Microinjection of muscimol into nucleus accumbens shell
Administer muscimol microinjections at different rostrocaudal locations in nucleus accumbens shell. Rostral injections receive 75 ng muscimol.
Note: Different injection sites (rostral, intermediate, caudal) produce different behavioral effects
View evidence from paper
“Microinjection of the GABA A agonist muscimol in the rostral medial accumbens shell in rats elicits appetitive eating behavior, but in the caudal shell instead elicits fearful defensive treading behavior”
Measure conditioned place preference/avoidance
Assess whether animals develop place preference or avoidance conditioning in response to muscimol microinjection at different shell locations
Conditioned Place Preference - Mouse (Custom Order)
Matches: Place preference/avoidance conditioning apparatus
Note: Rostral injections cause positive place preferences; caudal injections cause negative place avoidance
View evidence from paper
“Farthest rostral muscimol microinjections (75 ng) caused increased eating behavior and also caused positive conditioned place preferences and increased positive hedonic reactions”
Measure taste-elicited hedonic and aversive orofacial expressions
Record affective facial expressions in response to taste stimuli (sucrose and quinine) following muscimol microinjection
Note: Rostral injections increase positive hedonic reactions to sucrose; caudal injections increase negative aversive reactions to sucrose or quinine
View evidence from paper
“we measured behavioral place preference/avoidance conditioning and affective hedonic and aversive orofacial expressions of taste-elicited liking and disliking (gapes, etc.)”
Measure eating behavior
Quantify feeding behavior in response to muscimol microinjection at different shell locations
Note: Rostral injections elicit increased appetitive eating; caudal injections elicit defensive treading instead of eating
View evidence from paper
“Farthest rostral muscimol microinjections (75 ng) caused increased eating behavior”
Measure fear and defensive behavior
Assess fearful defensive treading behavior in response to muscimol microinjection
Note: Caudal shell injections elicit fearful defensive treading behavior
View evidence from paper
“caudal shell instead elicits fearful defensive treading behavior”