When citing an abstract from the 2009 Annual - Society for ...

findings showed a stronger increase in activation of orexin cells located in the lateral region of
LHA. Interesting, the orexin neurons located in lateral region of the LHA are primarily involved
in reward processing for food or drug. Finally, we tested the behavioral changes in rlPAGlesioned
animals during predatory hunting and analyzed the orexin cells pattern of Fos
expression after NMDA lesions of rlPAG. Bilateral lesions of the rlPAG produced dramatic
effects in motivation for hunting the prey and strongly reduced the activation of orexin neurons
in the lateral part of the LHA. Overall, the present findings support the idea that the rlPAG
modulates the motivational drive for food seeking behaviors, probably influencing the lateral
hypothalamic orexin neurons which are critically involved in reward processing for food through
the modulation of the ventral tegmental area and the nucleus accumbens.
Disclosures: M.H. Sukikara, None; M.V. Baldo, None; L.F. Felicio, None; C.F. Elias,
None; J.C. Bittencourt, None; N.S. Canteras, None; S.R. Mota-Ortiz, None.
Poster
583. Reward: Motivated Behaviors - Food, Taste, etc
Location: South Hall A
Time: Tuesday, October 20, 2009, 8:00 am - 12:00 noon
Program#/Poster#: 583.2/GG79
Topic: F.03.a. Reward
Support: Academy of Finland Grant 119088
Title: Combined 18F-FDG PET and fMRI reveals the role of caudate nucleus in food craving
Authors: *L. NUMMENMAA 1,2 , J. HIRVONEN 3 , A. KARMI 3 , J. C. HANNUKAINEN 3 , H.
LEPPÄNEN 3 , M. M. LINDROOS 3,4 , A. HEINO 3 , P. NUUTILA 3,5 ;
1 Dept. of Psychology, Univ. of Turku, Turku, Finland; 2 Dept. of Psychology, Univ. of Tampere,
Tampere, Finland; 3 Turku PET Centre, Univ. of Turku and Turku Univ. Hosp., Turku, Finland;
4 Dept. of Neurol., 5 Dept. of Med., Univ. of Turku and Turku Univ. Hosp., Turku, Finland
Abstract: Recently there has been increased interest in the possible parallels between drug
craving in drug addiction and food craving in obesity. The most clearly established commonality
of the mechanisms of drug and food intake is their ability to activate the dopamine containing
link in the brain’s reward systems. Drug-related sensory cues may trigger drug seeking behavior
by eliciting hyperactivity in the brain’s reward circuit, similarly, food-related cues may trigger
food-seeking behavior via the same system. Hence, identifying the neural correlates of food
craving would be crucial for understanding the current high prevalence of obesity. In this study
we examined how individual differences in food craving map to the functioning of the reward