ePoster

Effects of a downregulation of mTORC1’s pathway in D2R cells of nucleus accumbens on impulsive behavior in rats

Fanny Joly, Robin Magnard, Alessandra Russolillo, Yvan Vachez, Frédérique Vossier, Carole Carcenac, Sabrina Boulet, Emmanuel Valjent, Sebastien Carnicella
FENS Forum 2024(2024)
Messe Wien Exhibition & Congress Center, Vienna, Austria

Conference

FENS Forum 2024

Messe Wien Exhibition & Congress Center, Vienna, Austria

Resources

Authors & Affiliations

Fanny Joly, Robin Magnard, Alessandra Russolillo, Yvan Vachez, Frédérique Vossier, Carole Carcenac, Sabrina Boulet, Emmanuel Valjent, Sebastien Carnicella

Abstract

Impulse control disorders (ICDs) are characterized by irresistible urges to act without foresight and an impaired inhibition of these behaviors, which constitute an important feature of substances or behavioral addictions, such as gambling, hypersexuality, or compulsive eating. In Parkinson’s disease patients, dopaminergic D2-receptor (DA D2R) agonist treatment pramipexole (PPX) has been shown to trigger ICD’s for 2/3 of them, highlighting the involvement of DA transmission in ICDs onset, especially through the D2R family.Striatal D2R transmission is acting principally through the indirect pathway, where a proper balanced activity is required in controlling reward-associated learning, motivation as well as impulsivity. As a disrupted activity of the DA transmission has been showed in ICDs, the exact contributions of PPX on ICDs emergence and the associated D2R-transmission alterations remains poorly understood.We first demonstrated in a delay discounting task an elevated cognitive impulsivity in male rats chronically treated with PPX, as observed in patients with ICDs. This increased impulsivity was associated with a decrease of mTORC1 pathway’s activity in the Nucleus Accumbens (NAcc), a striatal region known to be implicated in the control of impulsive behaviors. By using conditional transgenic strategies, we were able to show that these cellular modifications occur preferentially in D2R-expressing medium spiny neurons (D2R-MSNs). Because mTORC1 is a crucial signaling pathway for neuronal activity and plasticity, decreasing its activity in NAcc D2R-MSNs may account for the pro-impulsive action of PPX.

Unique ID: fens-24/effects-downregulation-mtorc1s-pathway-1858ae51