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Dougherty R, Thrailkill EA, Mohammed Z, VonDoepp S, Hilton-Vanosdall E, Charette S, Van Horn S, Quirk A, Kraus A, Toufexis DJ. Acute stress facilitates habitual behavior in female rats. Physiol Behav 2024; 275:114456. [PMID: 38181831 PMCID: PMC10842801 DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2024.114456] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2023] [Revised: 12/15/2023] [Accepted: 01/02/2024] [Indexed: 01/07/2024]
Abstract
Instrumental behavior can reflect the influence of goal-directed and habitual systems. Contemporary research suggests that stress may facilitate control by the habitual system under conditions where the behavior would otherwise reflect control by the goal-directed system. However, it is unclear how stress modulates the influence of these systems on instrumental responding to achieve this effect, particularly in females. Here, we examine whether a mild psychogenic stressor experienced before acquisition training (Experiment 1), or prior to the test of expression (Experiment 2) would influence goal-directed and habitual control of instrumental responding in female rats. In both experiments, rats acquired an instrumental nose-poke response for a sucrose reward. This was followed by a reinforcer devaluation phase in which half the rats in Stressed and Non-Stressed conditions received pairings of the sucrose pellet with illness induced by lithium chloride until they rejected the pellet when offered. The remaining rats received a control treatment consisting of pellets and illness on separate days (Unpaired). Control by goal-directed and habitual systems was evaluated in a subsequent nonreinforced test of nose poking. The results of Experiment 1 indicated that the Non-Stressed Paired group reduced nose-poking compared to the Unpaired controls, identifying the response as goal directed, whereas the Stressed Paired and Unpaired groups made a similar number of nose pokes identifying the response as habitual despite a similar amount of training. Results from Experiment 2 indicated habitual control of nose-poke responding was present when stress was experienced just prior to the test. Collectively, these data suggest that stress may facilitate habitual control by altering the relative influence of goal-directed and habitual processes underpinning instrumental behavior. These results may be clinically relevant for understanding the contributions of stress to dysregulated instrumental behavior in compulsive pathologies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Russell Dougherty
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Vermont, 2 Colchester Ave, Burlington VT 05405, United States.
| | - Eric A Thrailkill
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Vermont, 2 Colchester Ave, Burlington VT 05405, United States; Department of Psychiatry, The Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine, University of Vermont 1 South Prospect Street, MS 446AR6, Burlington, VT 05401, United States; Vermont Center on Behavior and Health, University of Vermont, 1 South Prospect Street, MS 482, Burlington, VT 05401, United States
| | - Zaidan Mohammed
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Vermont, 2 Colchester Ave, Burlington VT 05405, United States
| | - Sarah VonDoepp
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Vermont, 2 Colchester Ave, Burlington VT 05405, United States
| | - Ella Hilton-Vanosdall
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Vermont, 2 Colchester Ave, Burlington VT 05405, United States
| | - Sam Charette
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Vermont, 2 Colchester Ave, Burlington VT 05405, United States
| | - Sarah Van Horn
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Vermont, 2 Colchester Ave, Burlington VT 05405, United States
| | - Adrianna Quirk
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Vermont, 2 Colchester Ave, Burlington VT 05405, United States
| | - Adina Kraus
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Vermont, 2 Colchester Ave, Burlington VT 05405, United States
| | - Donna J Toufexis
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Vermont, 2 Colchester Ave, Burlington VT 05405, United States
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VonDoepp S, Mohammed Z, Dougherty R, Hilton-Vanosdall E, Charette S, Kraus A, Van Horn S, Quirk A, Toufexis D. Levonorgestrel maintains goal-directed behavior in habit-trained intact female rats. Horm Behav 2024; 158:105468. [PMID: 38101144 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2023.105468] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2023] [Revised: 10/30/2023] [Accepted: 12/01/2023] [Indexed: 12/17/2023]
Abstract
Hormonal contraceptives are utilized by millions of women worldwide. However, it remains unclear if these powerful endocrine modulators may alter cognitive function. Habit formation involves the progression of instrumental learning as it goes from being a conscious goal-directed process to a cue-driven automatic habitual motor response. Dysregulated goal and/or habit is implicated in numerous psychopathologies, underscoring the relevance of examining the effect of hormonal contraceptives on goal-directed and habitual behavior. This study examined the effect of levonorgestrel (LNG), a widely used progestin-type contraceptive, on the development of habit in intact female rats. Rats were implanted with subcutaneous capsules that slowly released LNG over the course of the experiment or cholesterol-filled capsules. All female rats underwent operant training followed by reward devaluation to test for habit. One group of females was trained at a level that is sub-threshold to habit, while another group of females was trained to a level well over the habit threshold observed in intact females. The results reveal that all sub-threshold trained rats remained goal-directed irrespective of LGN treatment, suggesting LNG is not advancing habit formation in female rats at this level of reinforcement. However, in rats that were overtrained well above the threshold, cholesterol females showed habitual behavior, thus replicating a portion of our original studies. In contrast, LNG-treated habit-trained rats remained goal-directed, indicating that LNG impedes the development and/or expression of habit following this level of supra-threshold to habit training. Thus, LNG may offset habit formation by sustaining attentional or motivational processes during learning in intact female rats. These results may be clinically relevant to women using this type of hormonal contraceptive as well as in other progestin-based hormone therapies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah VonDoepp
- The Department of Psychological Science, The University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, United States of America
| | - Zaidan Mohammed
- The Department of Psychological Science, The University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, United States of America
| | - Russell Dougherty
- The Department of Psychological Science, The University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, United States of America
| | - Ella Hilton-Vanosdall
- The Department of Psychological Science, The University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, United States of America
| | - Sam Charette
- The Department of Psychological Science, The University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, United States of America
| | - Adina Kraus
- The Department of Psychological Science, The University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, United States of America
| | - Sarah Van Horn
- The Department of Psychological Science, The University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, United States of America
| | - Adrianna Quirk
- The Department of Psychological Science, The University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, United States of America
| | - Donna Toufexis
- The Department of Psychological Science, The University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, United States of America.
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McNulty CJ, Fallon IP, Amat J, Sanchez RJ, Leslie NR, Root DH, Maier SF, Baratta MV. Elevated prefrontal dopamine interferes with the stress-buffering properties of behavioral control in female rats. Neuropsychopharmacology 2023; 48:498-507. [PMID: 36076018 PMCID: PMC9852231 DOI: 10.1038/s41386-022-01443-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2022] [Revised: 08/17/2022] [Accepted: 08/22/2022] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
Stress-linked disorders are more prevalent in women than in men and differ in their clinical presentation. Thus, investigating sex differences in factors that promote susceptibility or resilience to stress outcomes, and the circuit elements that mediate their effects, is important. In male rats, instrumental control over stressors engages a corticostriatal system involving the prelimbic cortex (PL) and dorsomedial striatum (DMS) that prevent many of the sequelae of stress exposure. Interestingly, control does not buffer against stress outcomes in females, and here, we provide evidence that the instrumental controlling response in females is supported instead by the dorsolateral striatum (DLS). Additionally, we used in vivo microdialysis, fluorescent in situ hybridization, and receptor subtype pharmacology to examine the contribution of prefrontal dopamine (DA) to the differential impact of behavioral control. Although both sexes preferentially expressed D1 receptor mRNA in PL GABAergic neurons, there were robust sex differences in the dynamic properties of prefrontal DA during controllable stress. Behavioral control potently attenuated stress-induced DA efflux in males, but not females, who showed a sustained DA increase throughout the entire stress session. Importantly, PL D1 receptor blockade (SCH 23390) shifted the proportion of striatal activity from the DLS to the DMS in females and produced the protective effects of behavioral control. These findings suggest a sex-selective mechanism in which elevated DA in the PL biases instrumental responding towards prefrontal-independent striatal circuitry, thereby eliminating the protective impact of coping with stress.
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Affiliation(s)
- Connor J McNulty
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Center for Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Isabella P Fallon
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Center for Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Jose Amat
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Center for Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Rory J Sanchez
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Center for Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Nathan R Leslie
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Center for Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - David H Root
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Center for Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Steven F Maier
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Center for Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Michael V Baratta
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Center for Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA.
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