-----Original Message-----
From: NIH news releases and news items [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of NIH OLIB (NIH/OD)
Sent: Monday, July 08, 2013 12:56
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: NIH STUDY IDENTIFIES BRAIN CIRCUITS INVOLVED IN LEARNING AND
DECISION MAKING

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
NIH News National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
<http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/> For Immediate Release: Monday, July 8, 2013
                                           
CONTACT: NIAAA Press Office, 301-443-3860,
<e-mail:[log in to unmask]>

NIH STUDY IDENTIFIES BRAIN CIRCUITS INVOLVED IN LEARNING AND DECISION MAKING
Finding has implications for alcoholism and other patterns of addictive
behavior 

Research from the National Institutes of Health has identified neural
circuits in mice that are involved in the ability to learn and alter
behaviors. The findings help to explain the brain processes that govern
choice and the ability to adapt behavior based on the end results. 
  
Researchers think this might provide insight into patterns of compulsive
behavior such as alcoholism and other addictions.

"Much remains to be understood about exactly how the brain strikes the
balance between learning a behavioral response that is consistently
rewarded, versus retaining the flexibility to switch to a new, better
response," said Kenneth R. Warren, Ph.D., acting director of the National
Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. "These findings give new insight
into the process and how it can go awry."  

The study, published online in Nature Neuroscience, indicates that specific
circuits in the forebrain play a critical role in choice and adaptive
learning.

Like other addictions, alcoholism is a disease in which voluntary control of
behavior progressively diminishes and unwanted actions eventually become
compulsive. It is thought that the normal brain processes involved in
completing everyday activities become redirected toward finding and abusing
alcohol.

The research, conducted by investigators from NIAAA, with support from the
National Institute of Mental Health and the University of Cambridge,
England, used a variety of approaches to study choice.

Researchers used a simple choice task in which mice viewed images on a
computer touchscreen and learned to touch a specific image with their nose
to get a food reward. Using various techniques to visualize and record
neural activity, researchers found that as the mice learned to consistently
make a choice, the brain's dorsal striatum was activated. The dorsal
striatum is thought to play an important role in motivation,
decision-making, and reward. 
  
Conversely, when the mice later had to shift to a new choice to receive a
reward, the dorsal striatum quieted while regions in the prefrontal cortex,
an area involved in decision-making and complex cognitive processes, became
active.

Building upon these findings, the authors next deleted or pharmacologically
blocked a component of nerve cells which normally binds the neurochemical
glutamate (specifically, the GluN2B subunit of the NMDA receptor) within two
different areas of the brain, the striatum and the frontal cortex. Previous
studies have shown that GluN2B plays a role in memory, spatial reference,
and attention. Researchers found that making dorsal striatal GluN2B inactive
markedly slowed learning, while shutting down GluN2B in the prefrontal
cortex made the mice less able to relearn the touchscreen reward task after
the reward image was changed.

"These data add to what we understand about the neural control of behavioral
flexibility and striatal learning by identifying GluN2B as a critical
molecular substrate to both processes," said the study's senior author,
Andrew Holmes, Ph.D., Laboratory Chief and Principal Investigator of the
NIAAA Laboratory of Behavioral and Genomic Neuroscience.

"This is particularly intriguing for future studies because NMDA receptors
are a major target for alcohol and contribute to important features of
alcoholism, such as withdrawal.  These new findings suggest that GluN2B in
corticostriatal circuits may also play a key role in driving the transition
from controlled drinking to compulsive abuse that characterizes alcoholism."

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, part of the National
Institutes of Health, is the primary U.S. agency for conducting and
supporting research on the causes, consequences, prevention, and treatment
of alcohol abuse, alcoholism, and alcohol problems. NIAAA also disseminates
research findings to general, professional, and academic audiences.
Additional alcohol research information and publications are available at
<http://www.niaaa.nih.gov>.
 
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical
research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal
agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical
research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both
common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs,
visit <www.nih.gov>.

NIH...Turning Discovery into Health -- Registered, U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office
------------
REFERENCE:
GluN2B in corticostriatal circuits governs choice learning and choice
shifting. Brigman JL, Daut R, Wright T, Gunduz-Cinar O, Graybeal C, Davis
MI, Jiang Z, Saksida LM, Jinde S, Pease M, Bussey TJ, Lovinger DM, Nakazawa
K, Holmes A. Nature Neuroscience. 2013 July 7. [Epub ahead of print] ###

This NIH News Release is available online at:
<http://www.nih.gov/news/health/jul2013/niaaa-08.htm>.

To subscribe (or unsubscribe) from NIH News Release mailings, go to
<http://service.govdelivery.com/service/subscribe.html?code=USNIH_1>.
If you subscribed via the NIH LISTSERV, go to
<https://list.nih.gov/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A0=nihpress>.

-----------------------

To change your mail settings or leave the C-PALSY list, go here:

http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?SUBED1=c-palsy