Opioid Hedonic Hotspot in Nucleus Accumbens Shell: Mu, Delta, and Kappa Maps for Enhancement of Sweetness Liking and Wanting
Castro and Berridge extended the hedonic hotspot work by testing all three major opioid receptor types rather than one, mapping where stimulating each changed how much rats appeared to enjoy a sweet taste and how much they ate. Two results stand out. The hotspot is shared: stimulating any of the three receptor types within the same small region at the front and top of the nucleus accumbens shell at least doubled the reactions indicating pleasure, and did so to a comparable degree. And the same structure contains its opposite. In the rear half of the shell, stimulating any of the three cut pleasure reactions roughly in half, which the authors call a coldspot. Eating followed a different anatomical pattern again. The conclusion is that a single small brain structure contains separate and even opposing machinery for enjoyment and for consumption, which is a stronger version of the wanting and liking separation than the earlier study alone established.
Castro and Berridge extended the hedonic hotspot work by testing all three major opioid receptor types rather than one, mapping where stimulating each changed how much rats appeared to enjoy a sweet taste and how much they ate. Two results stand out. The hotspot is shared: stimulating any of the three receptor types within the same small region at the front and top of the nucleus accumbens shell at least doubled the reactions indicating pleasure, and did so to a comparable degree. And the same structure contains its opposite. In the rear half of the shell, stimulating any of the three cut pleasure reactions roughly in half, which the authors call a coldspot. Eating followed a different anatomical pattern again. The conclusion is that a single small brain structure contains separate and even opposing machinery for enjoyment and for consumption, which is a stronger version of the wanting and liking separation than the earlier study alone established.
Written from the abstract, OpenAlex.
What our sources record
Reproduced as it was written when this source was checked, figures and all.
Castro, D. C. & Berridge, K. C. (2014). "Opioid hedonic hotspot in nucleus accumbens shell: Mu, delta, and kappa maps for enhancement of sweetness 'liking' and 'wanting'." Journal of Neuroscience, 34(12), 4239-4250.
Where we use it
- Wanting Is Not Liking, Why We Engage
Reliability of this reference
The link below was matched against the publisher's record on title, first author and year, and all three agree.
The source
https://doi.org/10.1523/jneurosci.4458-13.2014
DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.4458-13.2014