Abstract

Poor food environments are a chronic public health issue primarily affecting poor and minoritized communities. Many of the current solutions for food deserts are short-lived and largely ineffective. This thesis proposes using neuroscientific theory on consumption and motivation a possible tool in food-desert-solution development that will help achieve the behavioral shift needed for successful interventions. Using this approach, the brain areas most susceptible to alterations by junk food consumption must first be identified. Second, solutions that consider the altered brain physiology accompanying food desert inhabitancy must be developed and implemented. This thesis begins by reviewing the background of food deserts and the neuroscience of consumption and motivation. It then focuses on a study done on the ventral pallidum to better understand its role in junk food consumption. The ventral pallidum (VP) is an area of the brain that is activated during reward consumption. We investigated whether reversible unilateral optogenetic inhibition would reduce consumption of 100% coconut oil, a highly palatable reward. We hypothesized that unilateral inhibition of the VP would reduce oil consumption. We injected the inhibitory opsin Archaerhodopsin 3.0 unilaterally into VP and used a transgenic Cre-recombinase mediated approach to selectively target VP GABAergic neurons. Following surgery, VGAT-ires-cre mice were trained on a Pavlovian head-fixed oil consumption task. Oil was dispensed four seconds after a digital tone. Closed-looped optogenetic inhibition using a 5mW or 10mW 532nm laser was triggered by the first lick on every 4th trial (laser on in 20% of all trials). We concluded that inhibition had no effect on coconut oil consumption. Further studies, including the pairing of optogenetic stimulation with the digital tone, are needed to determine the role of VP GABAergic neurons in perceived palatability and consumption. The thesis ends by contextualizing the findings of the study into food desert research. By better understanding the neuroscience of food desert inhabitancy, we can create interventions that consider the behavioral changes spurred by environmental influence on the brain.

Advisor

Herzmann, Grit

Department

Neuroscience

Disciplines

Behavioral Neurobiology | Cognitive Neuroscience | Community Health | Environmental Public Health | Food Processing | Food Science | Food Studies | Nutrition | Place and Environment | Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration | Public Health Education and Promotion | Systems Neuroscience

Keywords

neuroscience, public health, food deserts, food swamps, consumption, behavior, ventral pallidum, brain, motivation, discrimination, environment

Publication Date

2024

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis

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