Deficits in sensory-specific devaluation task performance following genetic deletions of cannabinoid (CB1) receptor

Hans S. Crombag; Alexander W. Johnson; Anne M. Zimmer; Andreas Zimmer; Peter C. Holland

doi:10.1101/lm.1610510

Deficits in sensory-specific devaluation task performance following genetic deletions of cannabinoid (CB1) receptor

¹Neurogenetics and Behavior Center, Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA;
²Department of Molecular Psychiatry, University of Bonn, 53125 Bonn, Germany

↵3 Present address: Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Research Group, School of Psychology, The University of Sussex, Brighton, Falmer, East Sussex, BN1 9QG, UK.

Abstract

Cannabinoid CB1 receptor is abundantly expressed throughout the CNS and is implicated in numerous physiological and behavioral functions, including appetite and feeding. In the present study, wild-type and CB1 heterozygous and homozygous knockout mice were tested on an instrumental outcome-selective devaluation task to assess changes in acquired instrumental response levels for a distinct food reward following selective satiation. Deletion of CB1 receptor, as well as reduction in CB1 expression (HET), produced deficits in outcome-selective instrumental devaluation. These results identify a critical role for CB1 receptor in the ability of animals to represent, update, and/or use sensory-specific outcome representations to alter appetitive behaviors.