Food craving-like episodes during pregnancy are mediated by accumbal dopaminergic circuits - Archive ouverte HAL Accéder directement au contenu
Article Dans Une Revue Nature Metabolism Année : 2022

Food craving-like episodes during pregnancy are mediated by accumbal dopaminergic circuits

Emmanuel Valjent

Résumé

Preparation for motherhood requires a myriad of physiological and behavioural adjustments throughout gestation to provide an adequate environment for proper embryonic development1. Cravings for highly palatable foods are highly prevalent during pregnancy2 and contribute to the maintenance and development of gestational overweight or obesity3. However, the neurobiology underlying the distinct ingestive behaviours that result from craving specific foods remain unknown. Here we show that mice, similarly to humans, experience gestational food craving-like episodes. These episodes are associated with a brain connectivity reorganization that affects key components of the dopaminergic mesolimbic circuitry, which drives motivated appetitive behaviours and facilitates the perception of rewarding stimuli. Pregnancy engages a dynamic modulation of dopaminergic signalling through neurons expressing dopamine D2 receptors in the nucleus accumbens, which directly modulate food craving-like events. Importantly, persistent maternal food craving-like behaviour has long-lasting effects on the offspring, particularly in males, leading to glucose intolerance, increased body weight and increased susceptibility to develop eating disorders and anxiety-like behaviours during adulthood. Our results reveal the cognitively motivated nature of pregnancy food cravings and advocates for moderating emotional eating during gestation to prevent deterioration of the offspring's neuropsychological and metabolic health.
Fichier principal
Vignette du fichier
Haddad-Tovolli_Nat_Metab_final_repository_compressed.pdf (4 Mo) Télécharger le fichier
Origine : Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s)

Dates et versions

hal-03633480 , version 1 (15-04-2024)

Identifiants

Citer

Roberta Haddad-Tóvolli, Sara Ramírez, Emma Muñoz-Moreno, Maria Milà-Guasch, Lluis Miquel-Rio, et al.. Food craving-like episodes during pregnancy are mediated by accumbal dopaminergic circuits. Nature Metabolism, 2022, 4 (4), pp.424-434. ⟨10.1038/s42255-022-00557-1⟩. ⟨hal-03633480⟩
71 Consultations
0 Téléchargements

Altmetric

Partager

Gmail Facebook X LinkedIn More