Physiology of Motivated Behavior
This course focuses on evaluating the experiments that have sought to establish links between brain structure (the activity of specific brain circuits) and behavioral function (the control of particular motivated and emotional behaviors). Students are exposed to concepts from regulatory physiology, systems neuroscience, pharmacology, and endocrinology and read textbook as well as original source materials. The course focuses on the following behaviors: feeding, sex, fear, anxiety, the appetite for salt, and food aversion. The course also considers the neurochemical control of responses with an eye towards evaluating the development of drug treatments for: obesity, anorexia/cachexia, vomiting, sexual dysfunction, anxiety disorders, and depression.
The Physiology of Motivated and Emotional Behaviors (Psych 127 - BBB 227)
Syllabus: FALL 2007
Professor Harvey J. Grill
Teaching Assistant: Chris Vecsey
B-21 Stiteler Hall, TTh 3-4:20P
There is a Blackboard Site for this course. It contains important information for the class and we advise you to consult it often. Powerpoint files of the slides used in lectures will be found there. Other types of demonstration material including animations are also found there. The syllabus (and any revisions that may arise) can be found there, as well as other information on Course Goals, Student, Professor, and TA responsibilities, etc..
Readings of original scientific material will, whenever possible also be found on the course Blackboard Site. Material not easily found in PDF form or background material coming from textbooks is found in a BulkPack (Campus Copy). Supplemental reading or revisions to readings will be posted on the Blackboard Site.
1. Sept 6: Introduction and Orientation to the Course –
-review course content, goals, readings, exams, responsibilities
- advice on studying for this course
-TA discusses his hours and availability
regulatory physiology. homeostasis, input [sensory], output [motor], 3 motor or effector systems. behavior, autonomic, neuroendocrine, compensatory response
- Provide an example of research on the brain control of food intake
- Thermostat analog to the biological systems that regulate body temperature, energy balance, sodium balance, water balance. Sensors, effectors, feedback
An example of a bioassay- Cannon’s use of the denervated heart to monitor adrenaline levels
Read- Excerpt from W.B. Cannon's book The Wisdom of The Body
Important Note- Except for the introductory lecture, students are strongly encouraged to read the specified material prior to the lecture.
Background Lectures
2. Sept 11: Background on: Brain Structure and Introduction to Brain Systems of Key Relevance to Course Themes
Begin overview of organization of nervous system – focus on spinal and cranial nerves, sensory, motor, or mixed nerves, input-output; examples of nuclei of the amygdala, hypothalamus, midbrain and hindbrain.
Read- Chapter 3 (Structure of the Nervous System); Hypothalamus: An Overview. Note for both readings – it is an overview of the material I seek, not a detailed knowledge of the large number of terms that are covered. Also review audio-visual material associated with this lecture on the Blackboard Site or made available otherwise.
3. Sept 13: Background on: Neuron Function and Principles of Neurotransmission
Read- Chapter 2 - Function of Neurons. Reading provides background on nervous system - neural cells, their basic function, neural communication (electrical and chemical elements of neural transmission. Chap 2 – pages 28-31; 45-61). Also review audio-visual material associated with this lecture on the Blackboard Site.
4. Sept 18: Background on: Methods and Strategies Used in the Neural Analysis of Behavior
Read- Chapter 5 -Methods and Strategies of Research. Also review audio-visual material associated with this lecture on the Blackboard Site.
FIRST THEME- The Neural Basis of Emotion: Fear and Stress
5. Sept 20: Emotion and the Brain- A Focus on Fear and the Neurobiological Function of the Amygdala
Read-- M. Davis minireview; Emotion- 363- 370
6. Sept 25: Emotional Function Assessed in the Human Amygdala: Data from Normal and Brain Damaged Humans
Read- LeDoux and Phelps review Neuron 2005
SECOND THEME- Stress and Pharmacological Approaches to Stress-related Psychopathology; Anxiety, Animal Models of Depression, The Neuropathological Basis of Depression
7. Sept 27: Stress, The Stress Response, The CRF System
Read- Editorial – Focus on emotion and disorders of emotion, Nature Neuroscience Sept 07 Stress Disorders 601-608, selected portions of Bale and Vale or other current overview
8. Oct 2: Animal Models of Depression
Read- Cryan et al, Chapter 4 Psychopharmacology
9. Oct 4: An Hypothesis for the Neuropathology Underlying Human Depression- first of 2 lectures. Be prepared to discuss material in Czeh paper as well as the Shirayama paper
Read- Czeh et al paper; Shirayama et al paper; Santarelli et al paper
10. Oct 9: An Hypothesis for the Neuropathology Underlying Human Depression- second of 2 lectures. Be prepared to discuss material in Santarelli as well as Czeh and Shirayama papers
Read- Czeh et al paper; Shirayama et al paper; Santarelli et al paper
For a final perspective on this topic read Ressler and Mayberg -Targeting abnormal neural circuits in mood an anxiety disorders 2007
11. Oct 11: FIRST EXAM
THIRD THEME- Food Taste. Reward Systems, Food Aversion and Emesis (vomiting): Neural Systems and Pharmacology
No Class Fall Break Oct 16
12. Oct 18: Taste Sensation, Taste Reward, Ventral Forebrain Reward System
Taste, taste receptors, taste reactivity, taste hedonics, the nucleus accumbens (NAc) is a key component of the brain's reward pathway
Read- Roitman et al, Neuron 2005, consider addition of Grill, New York Acad 1985
No Class on Oct 23 at Scientific Meeting
13. Oct 25: Food Reward and Drug Reward
The same input pathways to the NAc that are implicated in taste and food reward - AKA natural rewards - provide the neural focus for the analysis of drug rewards
Read - Hommel Neuron 2006; Volkow J Neurosci 06 Cocaine cues and dopamine in dorsal striatum: mechanism of craving in cocaine addiction. cannabinoid receptor antagonist effects on obesity and cigarette smoking, consider paper from Childress lab on human addiction perspective
14. Oct 30: Naturally Occurring Food Aversion in People and Food Aversion Induced by Chemotherapy
Read - Pelchat and Rozin article and two short papers by Bernstein, the combination of lesions and behavioral analysis in rodent taste aversion. Decide among readings for animal work including some by Spector.
15. Nov 1: Pharmacology of Emesis- Developing a Drug Treatment for Chemotherapy Induced Vomiting
Read - Be prepared to discuss Andrews et al reading. Consider - the serotonin synapse and serotonin system figures in Chap 4 [previous lecture], the area postrema [chemoreceptive trigger zone], vagus nerve, vagotomy, action of certain chemotherapeutic agents and lithium chloride. If time allows, consider role of serotonin and vagus nerve in the control of food intake and amount consumed in meals.
FOURTH THEME: Thermoregulation and The Neural Control of Energy Expenditure
16. Nov 6: Thermoregulation, skin thermal receptors, central processing, outputs controlling behavior and sympathetic nervous system output, infection, cytokines and fever. Behavioral and autonomic responses compensate for hot or cold environments
Read - Bachman et al Science 2002 and the brief perspective (Dulloo) that precedes it
Nakamura and Morrison, AJ Physiology 2006, consider including Morrison NIPS paper, Nautiyal et al.
17. Nov 8: Diet-induced thermogenesis- Body Weight Control Also Involves Energy Expenditure
Read- Stock review, Bachman et al
18. Nov 13: SECOND EXAM
FIFTH THEME: Food Intake and Obesity: Neural and Chemical Systems
19. Nov 15: Daily Intake is Regulated - The Size of Individual Meals Is Also Controlled
Establishing the perspective that amount consumed during the meals taken over a day or even the food consumed in a single meal is under physiological control
Read - Kaplan et al article discusses data of relevance to the hypothesis of meal size control and also considers how an anti-obesity drug (one acting on the serotonin system) might work.
20. Nov 20: What Mechanisms May Account for the Initiation of Meals? The Physiology of Ghrelin and the Effects of Physiological State on Neuropeptide Y in the Hypothalamus
Read - Cummings Diabetes paper; also read the subsequent paper by Cummings on a ghrelin level as an explanation for the success of gastric bypass surgery for extreme obesity. Consider Badman and Flier article in Science 2005, “The Gut and Energy Balance: Visceral Allies in the Obesity Wars”
No Class Nov 22 Thanksgiving
21. Nov 27: What Mechanisms May Account for the Termination of Meals? The Physiology of Leptin, How does leptin result in reduced intake? Role of gastrointestinal signals in the termination of feeding
Read - Huo et al 2007 Endocrinology, Barsh and Schwartz 2002 Nature review
22. Nov 29: The Melanocortin System – its role in Energy Balance
Read - continue with Barsh and Schwartz review, other reading on Blackboard??
23. Dec 4: Two Nodes in a Distributed System, the Arcuate Nucleus and the Dorsal Vagal Complex.
Read- Grill 2006 Obesity
24. Dec 6: Conversation about the Course
Final Exam during Exam period