Nucleus accumbens core lesions enhance two-way active avoidance.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Behavioral Neuroscience
• Decision-Making

Background:

• The nucleus accumbens core (NAc) is primarily studied for its role in motivation toward appetitive outcomes.
• Previous research indicates NAc is crucial for reward-guided decision-making.
• The NAc's function in motivating behavior to avoid aversive outcomes is less understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of NAc lesions on performance in a two-way active avoidance task.
• To explore the NAc's role in learning and retaining behaviors to prevent aversive stimuli.

Main Methods:

• Bilateral lesions of the NAc were induced in rats.
• Performance was assessed on a reward-guided decision-making task.
• Acquisition and retention of a two-way active avoidance task were evaluated.

Main Results:

• NAc lesions impaired performance on the reward-guided decision-making task.
• Rats with NAc lesions demonstrated improved acquisition of the two-way active avoidance task.
• Retention of the active avoidance task was also enhanced in rats with NAc lesions.

Conclusions:

• The NAc plays a differential role in motivated behaviors.
• NAc function is critical for appetitive motivation but may be inhibitory for aversive avoidance learning.
• These findings highlight the complex involvement of the NAc in diverse behavioral contexts.