Sucrose intensity coding and decision-making in rat gustatory cortices
Sucrose’s sweet intensity is one attribute contributing to the overconsumption of high-energy palatable foods. However, it is not known how sucrose intensity is encoded and used to make perceptual decisions by neurons in taste-sensitive cortices. We trained rats in a sucrose intensity discrimination...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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eLife Sciences Publications Ltd
2018-11-01
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| Series: | eLife |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://elifesciences.org/articles/41152 |
| _version_ | 1828169044727955456 |
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| author | Esmeralda Fonseca Victor de Lafuente Sidney A Simon Ranier Gutierrez |
| author_facet | Esmeralda Fonseca Victor de Lafuente Sidney A Simon Ranier Gutierrez |
| author_sort | Esmeralda Fonseca |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Sucrose’s sweet intensity is one attribute contributing to the overconsumption of high-energy palatable foods. However, it is not known how sucrose intensity is encoded and used to make perceptual decisions by neurons in taste-sensitive cortices. We trained rats in a sucrose intensity discrimination task and found that sucrose evoked a widespread response in neurons recorded in posterior-Insula (pIC), anterior-Insula (aIC), and Orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). Remarkably, only a few Intensity-selective neurons conveyed the most information about sucrose’s intensity, indicating that for sweetness the gustatory system uses a compact and distributed code. Sucrose intensity was encoded in both firing-rates and spike-timing. The pIC, aIC, and OFC neurons tracked movement direction, with OFC neurons yielding the most robust response. aIC and OFC neurons encoded the subject’s choices, whereas all three regions tracked reward omission. Overall, these multimodal areas provide a neural representation of perceived sucrose intensity, and of task-related information underlying perceptual decision-making. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T02:44:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e5d0db06c7894603bf2a88e0ed50bbe5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2050-084X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T02:44:43Z |
| publishDate | 2018-11-01 |
| publisher | eLife Sciences Publications Ltd |
| record_format | Article |
| series | eLife |
| spelling | doaj.art-e5d0db06c7894603bf2a88e0ed50bbe52022-12-22T03:51:13ZengeLife Sciences Publications LtdeLife2050-084X2018-11-01710.7554/eLife.41152Sucrose intensity coding and decision-making in rat gustatory corticesEsmeralda Fonseca0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3697-9401Victor de Lafuente1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1047-1354Sidney A Simon2Ranier Gutierrez3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9688-0289Laboratory of Neurobiology of Appetite, Department of Pharmacology, Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute, Mexico City, MexicoInstitute of Neurobiology, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Juriquilla Querétaro, MexicoDepartment of Neurobiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, United StatesLaboratory of Neurobiology of Appetite, Department of Pharmacology, Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute, Mexico City, MexicoSucrose’s sweet intensity is one attribute contributing to the overconsumption of high-energy palatable foods. However, it is not known how sucrose intensity is encoded and used to make perceptual decisions by neurons in taste-sensitive cortices. We trained rats in a sucrose intensity discrimination task and found that sucrose evoked a widespread response in neurons recorded in posterior-Insula (pIC), anterior-Insula (aIC), and Orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). Remarkably, only a few Intensity-selective neurons conveyed the most information about sucrose’s intensity, indicating that for sweetness the gustatory system uses a compact and distributed code. Sucrose intensity was encoded in both firing-rates and spike-timing. The pIC, aIC, and OFC neurons tracked movement direction, with OFC neurons yielding the most robust response. aIC and OFC neurons encoded the subject’s choices, whereas all three regions tracked reward omission. Overall, these multimodal areas provide a neural representation of perceived sucrose intensity, and of task-related information underlying perceptual decision-making.https://elifesciences.org/articles/41152taste codingtaste Intensityrewarddecision-variablesobesity |
| spellingShingle | Esmeralda Fonseca Victor de Lafuente Sidney A Simon Ranier Gutierrez Sucrose intensity coding and decision-making in rat gustatory cortices eLife taste coding taste Intensity reward decision-variables obesity |
| title | Sucrose intensity coding and decision-making in rat gustatory cortices |
| title_full | Sucrose intensity coding and decision-making in rat gustatory cortices |
| title_fullStr | Sucrose intensity coding and decision-making in rat gustatory cortices |
| title_full_unstemmed | Sucrose intensity coding and decision-making in rat gustatory cortices |
| title_short | Sucrose intensity coding and decision-making in rat gustatory cortices |
| title_sort | sucrose intensity coding and decision making in rat gustatory cortices |
| topic | taste coding taste Intensity reward decision-variables obesity |
| url | https://elifesciences.org/articles/41152 |
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