Disconnection of the Anterior Cingulate Cortex and Nucleus Accumbens Core Impairs Pavlovian Approach Behavior: Further Evidence for Limbic Cortical-Ventral Striatopallidal Systems

The nucleus accumbens (NAcc) has been implicated in a variety of forms of reward-related learning, reflecting its anatomical connections with limbic cortical structures. After confirming that excitotoxic lesions of the anterior cingulate cortex (Ant Cing) impaired the acquisition of appetitive Pavlo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Behavioral neuroscience 2000-02, Vol.114 (1), p.42-63
Main Authors: Parkinson, John A, Willoughby, Pamela J, Robbins, Trevor W, Everitt, Barry J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anatomical correlates of behavior
Animal
Animals
Appetite
Autoshaping
Behavior
Behavioral psychophysiology
Biological and medical sciences
Brain Mapping
Cingulate Cortex
Classical Conditioning
Conditioning, Classical - physiology
Corpus Striatum - physiology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Globus Pallidus - physiology
Gyrus Cinguli - physiology
Limbic System
Limbic System - physiology
Male
Motivation
Nerve Net - physiology
Neural Pathways - physiology
Neurology
Nucleus Accumbens
Nucleus Accumbens - physiology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Rat Learning
Rats
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Summary:The nucleus accumbens (NAcc) has been implicated in a variety of forms of reward-related learning, reflecting its anatomical connections with limbic cortical structures. After confirming that excitotoxic lesions of the anterior cingulate cortex (Ant Cing) impaired the acquisition of appetitive Pavlovian conditioning in an autoshaping procedure, the effects of excitotoxic lesions to the NAcc core or shell on autoshaping were also assessed. Only selective core lesions impaired Pavlovian approach. A subsequent experiment studied the effects of a disconnection of the Ant Cing and NAcc core, using an asymmetric lesion procedure, to determine whether these structures interact sequentially as part of a limbic corticostriatal system. Such lesioned rats were also significantly impaired relative to controls at autoshaping. These results demonstrate that the NAcc core and Ant Cing are "nodes" of a corticostriatal circuit involved in stimulus-reward learning.
ISSN:0735-7044
1939-0084
DOI:10.1037/0735-7044.114.1.42