Abstract
Sensation seeking is a heritable trait that is genetically correlated with substance use; the shared genetic mechanisms underlying these traits are largely unknown. The relationship of sensation seeking and substance use has practical importance because discovering genes that drive sensation seeking can reveal genes driving substance use, and quantification of sensation seeking in mice is higher throughput and less technically challenging than quantification of volitional drug use. In order to fully understand the genetic mechanisms driving sensation seeking, it is critical to first understand the nongenetic factors driving sensation seeking. In the present study, we used the operant sensation seeking paradigm to assess the effects of stimulus complexity on sensation seeking in C57BL/6J and DBA/2J mice. These strains are the founders of the BXD recombinant inbred mouse panel which enables the discovery of genes driving phenotypic variation. This study led to four principal conclusions. First, all sensory stimuli used in the study, regardless of complexity or number of stimulus modalities, served as reinforcers for C57BL/6J and DBA/2J mice. Second, for both C57BL/6J and DBA/2J mice, sensation seeking for a high complexity sensory stimulus was significantly greater than sensation seeking for a low complexity sensory stimulus. Third, for both C57BL/6J and DBA/2J mice, sensation seeking escalated significantly within-session when a multimodal sensory stimulus of medium or high complexity was used but not when a unimodal sensory stimulus of low complexity was used. Finally, both the magnitude of sensation seeking and the magnitude of within-session escalation of sensation seeking were significantly greater in mice from the DBA/2J strain relative to mice from the C57BL/6J strain. Collectively, these findings indicate that stimulus complexity and genetic background drive escalation of operant sensation seeking within and across sessions, and that the BXD recombinant inbred mouse panel can be used to discover the genetic mechanisms underlying these phenomena.
Highlights
Animal behavior is reinforced by sensory stimuli, and the biological mechanisms driving sensation seeking are shared with those driving substance use (Zuckerman, 1986; Piazza et al, 1990; Olsen and Winder, 2009; Belin and Deroche-Gamonet, 2012; Flagel et al, 2014; Dickson et al, 2015, 2016, 2019)
Some important questions are: (1) what stimulus characteristics enable sensory stimuli to serve as reinforcers; (2) how does experimentally manipulating these stimulus characteristics influence sensitization and habituation to sensory reinforcement; and (3) how are these phenomena influenced by genetic factors? Answering these questions will move us closer to discovering the specific genes and networks which drive sensation seeking and understanding how they are hijacked by abused substances
We have shown that the escalation of operant sensation seeking (OSS), both within and across sessions, is directly influenced by stimulus complexity
Summary
Animal behavior is reinforced by sensory stimuli, and the biological mechanisms driving sensation seeking are shared with those driving substance use (Zuckerman, 1986; Piazza et al, 1990; Olsen and Winder, 2009; Belin and Deroche-Gamonet, 2012; Flagel et al, 2014; Dickson et al, 2015, 2016, 2019). This phenomenon is theoretically important because it illustrates that abused substances hijack the most fundamental mechanisms motivating animal behavior. Some important questions are: (1) what stimulus characteristics enable sensory stimuli to serve as reinforcers; (2) how does experimentally manipulating these stimulus characteristics influence sensitization and habituation to sensory reinforcement; and (3) how are these phenomena influenced by genetic factors? Answering these questions will move us closer to discovering the specific genes and networks which drive sensation seeking and understanding how they are hijacked by abused substances
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