Choi, E. A. | Search bioRxiv

bioRxiv2024

FGF21 Analogue PF-05231023 on Alcohol Consumption and Neuronal Activity in the Nucleus Accumbens

Fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) is a liver-derived hormone known to suppress alcohol consumption in mice and non-human primates. However, the role of FGF21 in modulating environmental and behavioural factors driving alcohol consumption--such as cue-driven responses and effortful actions to obtain alcohol--and its effects on neural activity related to consumption, remain unclear. Here, we evaluated the impact of PF-05231023, a long-acting FGF21 analogue, across multiple dimensions of alcohol consumption and motivation. PF-05231023 reduced alcohol intake and preference in a dose-and sex-specific manner; diminished approach behaviours following an alcohol but not sucrose cue; and decreased lever-pressing under a progressive-ratio schedule, both alone and when combined with the GLP-1 agonist Exendin-4. Additionally, PF-05231023 altered the microstructure of alcohol consumption by shortening drinking bouts and increased the recruitment of nucleus accumbens (Acb) neurons associated with bout termination. These findings demonstrate that PF-05231023 broadly suppresses alcohol-motivated behaviours and that targeting FGF21 signaling in combination with GLP-1 agonists may enhance therapeutic efficacy. Mechanistically, the observed reductions in alcohol consumption following PF-05231023 appear to involve diminished alcohol palatability and modulation of neuronal activity from distinct subsets of Acb neurons.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2021

A corticothalamic circuit trades off speed for safety during decision-making under motivational conflict

Decisions to act while pursuing goals in the presence of danger must be made quickly but safely. Premature decisions risk injury or death whereas postponing decisions risk goal loss. Here we show how mice resolve these competing demands. Using microstructural behavioral analyses, we identified the spatiotemporal dynamics of approach-avoidance decisions under motivational conflict. Then we used cognitive modelling to show that these dynamics reflect the speeded decision-making mechanisms used by humans and non-human primates, with mice trading off decision speed for safety of choice when danger loomed. Using calcium imaging and functional circuit analyses, we show that this speed-safety trade off occurs because increases in paraventricular thalamus (PVT) activity increase decision caution, thereby increasing approach-avoid decision times in the presence of danger. Our findings demonstrate that a discrete brain circuit involving the PVT and its prefrontal cortical input dynamically adjusts decision caution during motivational conflict, trading off decision speed for decision safety when danger is close. They identify the corticothalamic pathway as central to cognitive control during decision-making under conflict.

neuroscience↗