It has recently been recognized that orbitofrontal cortex has 2 subdivisions that are anatomically and functionally distinct. Most rodent research has focused on the lateral subdivision, leaving the medial subdivision (mOFC) relatively unexplored. We recently showed that inhibiting mOFC neurons eliminated the differential impact of reward probability cues on discrimination accuracy in a sustained attention task. In the present study, we tested whether increasing mOFC neuronal activity in rats would accelerate acquisition of reward contingencies. mOFC neuronal activity was increased using the DREADD (Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs) method, in which clozapine-N-oxide administration leads to neuronal modulation by acting on synthetic receptors not normally expressed in the rat brain. We predicted that rats with neuronal activation in mOFC would require fewer sessions than controls for acquisition of a task in which visual cues signal the probability of reward for correct discrimination performance. Contrary to this prediction, mOFC neuronal activation impaired task acquisition, suggesting mOFC may play a role in learning relationships between environmental cues and reward probability or for using that information in adaptive decision-making. In addition, disrupted mOFC activity may contribute to psychiatric conditions in which learning associations between environmental cues and reward probability is impaired. (PsycINFO Database Record

中文翻译：

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内侧眶额叶皮层调节环境提示和奖励概率之间的关联学习。

最近已经认识到，眶额叶皮层有两个细分，在解剖学和功能上是不同的。大多数啮齿动物研究都集中在外侧细分，而相对细分的内侧细分（mOFC）则尚未开发。我们最近表明抑制mOFC神经元消除了持续关注任务中奖励概率提示对判别准确性的不同影响。在本研究中，我们测试了大鼠中mOFC神经元活性的增加是否会加速奖励意外事件的获得。使用DREADD（由Designer Drugs独家激活的Designer Receptors）方法可提高mOFC神经元的活性，其中氯氮平-N-氧化物的给药通过作用于大鼠脑中通常不表达的合成受体而导致神经元调节。我们预测，具有mOFC神经元激活作用的大鼠与对照组相比，所需的会话次数更少，以完成一项任务，在该任务中，视觉提示信号提示了对正确的辨别能力进行奖励的可能性。与此预测相反，mOFC神经元激活会损害任务的获得，表明mOFC可能在学习环境线索与奖励概率之间的关系或在自适应决策中使用该信息方面发挥作用。此外，mOFC活动的中断可能会导致精神疾病，从而削弱环境提示和奖励概率之间的学习联系。（PsycINFO数据库记录 与此预测相反，mOFC神经元激活会削弱任务的获得，表明mOFC可能在学习环境线索与奖励概率之间的关系或在自适应决策中使用该信息方面发挥作用。此外，mOFC活动的中断可能会导致精神疾病，从而削弱环境提示和奖励概率之间的学习联系。（PsycINFO数据库记录 与此预测相反，mOFC神经元激活会损害任务的获得，表明mOFC可能在学习环境线索与奖励概率之间的关系或在自适应决策中使用该信息方面发挥作用。此外，mOFC活动的中断可能会导致精神疾病，从而削弱环境提示和奖励概率之间的学习联系。（PsycINFO数据库记录