Bart Lodder

Keywords exploration dopamine hunger fluorescence lifetime imaging tail of striatum Introduction Hunger promotes goal-directed behaviors that are thought to help an animal restore its homeostatic balance.1 Food-seeking is one important behavioral correlate of the hungry state, but there are additional changes in behavior that are not obviously oriented toward obtaining caloric rewards, including decreased aversion of open spaces, increased tolerance for certain types of pain, increased...

Abstract The concentrations of extracellular and intracellular signaling molecules, such as dopamine and cAMP, change over both fast and slow timescales and impact downstream pathways in a cell-type specific manner. Fluorescence sensors currently used to monitor such signals in vivo are typically optimized to detect fast, relative changes in concentration of the target molecule.

Abstract Caloric depletion leads to behavioral changes that help an animal find food and restore its homeostatic balance. Hunger increases exploration and risk-taking behavior, allowing an animal to forage for food despite risks; however, the neural circuitry underlying this change is unknown. Here, we characterize how hunger restructures an animal's spontaneous behavior as well as its directed exploration of a novel object.