Postingestive nutrient sensing can induce food preferences. However, much less is known about the ability of postingestive signals to modulate food-seeking behaviors. Here we report a causal connection between postingestive sucrose sensing and vagus-mediated dopamine neuron activity in the ventral tegmental area (VTA), supporting food seeking. The activity of VTA dopamine neurons increases significantly after administration of intragastric sucrose, and deletion of the NMDA receptor in these neurons, which affects bursting and plasticity, abolishes lever pressing for postingestive sucrose delivery. Furthermore, lesions of the hepatic branch of the vagus nerve significantly impair postingestive-dependent VTA dopamine neuron activity and food seeking, whereas optogenetic stimulation of left vagus nerve neurons significantly increases VTA dopamine neuron activity. These data establish a necessary role of vagus-mediated dopamine neuron activity in postingestive-dependent food seeking, which is independent of taste signaling.

摄食后营养感应可以诱导食物偏好。然而，人们对摄食后信号调节寻食行为的能力知之甚少。在这里，我们报告了腹侧被盖区 (VTA) 中摄食后蔗糖感知和迷走神经介导的多巴胺神经元活动之间的因果关系，支持寻食。VTA 多巴胺神经元的活性在给予胃内蔗糖后显着增加，并且这些神经元中 NMDA 受体的缺失会影响爆发和可塑性，从而消除了摄入后蔗糖递送的杠杆压力。此外，迷走神经肝分支的损伤会显着损害摄食后依赖的 VTA 多巴胺神经元活动和食物寻找，而左侧迷走神经神经元的光遗传学刺激显着增加 VTA 多巴胺神经元活性。这些数据确立了迷走神经介导的多巴胺神经元活动在依赖于味觉信号的摄食后寻食中的必要作用。