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The role of pedunculopontine nucleus in choice behavior under risk.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Leblond, M; Sukharnikova, T; Yu, C; Rossi, MA; Yin, HH
Published in: The European journal of neuroscience
May 2014

The dopaminergic projections to the basal ganglia have long been implicated in reward-guided behavior and decision-making, yet little is known about the role of the posterior pedunculopontine nucleus (pPPN), a major source of excitatory input to the mesolimbic dopamine system. Here we studied the contributions of the pPPN to decision-making under risk, using excitoxic lesions and reversible inactivation in rats. Rats could choose between two options - a small but certain reward on one lever; or a large but uncertain reward on the other lever. The overall payoff associated with each choice is the same, but the reward variance (risk) associated with the risky choice is much higher. In Experiment 1, we showed that excitotoxic lesions of the pPPN before training did not affect acquisition of lever pressing. But whereas the controls strongly preferred the safe choice, the lesioned rats did not. In Experiment 2, we found that muscimol inactivation of the pPPN also produced similar effects, but reversibly. These results show that permanent lesions or reversible inactivation of the pPPN both abolish risk aversion in decision-making.

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Published In

The European journal of neuroscience

DOI

EISSN

1460-9568

ISSN

0953-816X

Publication Date

May 2014

Volume

39

Issue

10

Start / End Page

1664 / 1670

Related Subject Headings

  • Uncertainty
  • Task Performance and Analysis
  • Risk-Taking
  • Risk
  • Reward
  • Rats, Long-Evans
  • Pedunculopontine Tegmental Nucleus
  • Neuropsychological Tests
  • Neurology & Neurosurgery
  • Muscimol
 

Citation

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Leblond, M., Sukharnikova, T., Yu, C., Rossi, M. A., & Yin, H. H. (2014). The role of pedunculopontine nucleus in choice behavior under risk. The European Journal of Neuroscience, 39(10), 1664–1670. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.12529
Leblond, Mona, Tatyana Sukharnikova, Chunxiu Yu, Mark A. Rossi, and Henry H. Yin. “The role of pedunculopontine nucleus in choice behavior under risk.The European Journal of Neuroscience 39, no. 10 (May 2014): 1664–70. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.12529.
Leblond M, Sukharnikova T, Yu C, Rossi MA, Yin HH. The role of pedunculopontine nucleus in choice behavior under risk. The European journal of neuroscience. 2014 May;39(10):1664–70.
Leblond, Mona, et al. “The role of pedunculopontine nucleus in choice behavior under risk.The European Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 39, no. 10, May 2014, pp. 1664–70. Epmc, doi:10.1111/ejn.12529.
Leblond M, Sukharnikova T, Yu C, Rossi MA, Yin HH. The role of pedunculopontine nucleus in choice behavior under risk. The European journal of neuroscience. 2014 May;39(10):1664–1670.
Journal cover image

Published In

The European journal of neuroscience

DOI

EISSN

1460-9568

ISSN

0953-816X

Publication Date

May 2014

Volume

39

Issue

10

Start / End Page

1664 / 1670

Related Subject Headings

  • Uncertainty
  • Task Performance and Analysis
  • Risk-Taking
  • Risk
  • Reward
  • Rats, Long-Evans
  • Pedunculopontine Tegmental Nucleus
  • Neuropsychological Tests
  • Neurology & Neurosurgery
  • Muscimol