The attenuation of taste neophobia (AN) is a good model for studying the structural and neurochemical mechanisms of the emotional component of memory because taste recognition memory exhibits the unique feature of being necessarily linked to hedonic properties. Whilst novel tastes elicit cautious neophobic responses, taste exposures which are not followed by aversive consequences attenuate neophobia as the taste becomes safe and palatable. Given the involvement of the nucleus accumbens in reward and of the amygdala in emotional memories, we applied c-Fos immunohistochemistry as an index of neural activity in Wistar rats that were exposed to a vinegar solution for one, two or six days. An inverse pattern of accumbens nucleus vs amygdala activity was found on the second exposure day on which AN occurred. The number of c-Fos positive cells in the nucleus accumbens shell increased whilst the number of c-Fos positive cells in the basolateral amygdala decreased. Further analyses revealed a positive correlation between AN and the number of c-Fos positive cells in the accumbens shell but a negative correlation in the basolateral amygdala. Furthermore the accumbens-amygdala interplay relevant for AN seems to be mediated by dopamine D1 receptors (D1DR). The injection of SCH23390 (D1DR antagonist) in both the accumbens shell and the basolateral amygdala on the second taste exposure resulted in selectively impaired AN but had opposite long term effects. This finding supports the relevance of a dopaminergic network mediated by D1DRs in the nucleus accumbens shell and basolateral amygdala which is critical for adding the emotional component during the formation of taste memory.

味觉新恐惧症 (AN) 的衰减是研究记忆情绪成分的结构和神经化学机制的一个很好的模型，因为味觉识别记忆表现出与享乐特性必然相关的独特特征。虽然新口味会引起谨慎的新恐惧症反应，但随着口味变得安全和可口，味觉暴露不会带来厌恶后果，从而减轻新奇恐惧症。鉴于伏隔核参与奖赏和杏仁核参与情绪记忆，我们应用 c-Fos 免疫组织化学作为暴露于醋溶液 1、2 或 6 天的 Wistar 大鼠的神经活动指标。在发生 AN 的第二个暴露日发现伏隔核与杏仁核活动的相反模式。伏隔核壳中c-Fos阳性细胞的数量增加，而基底外侧杏仁核中c-Fos阳性细胞的数量减少。进一步的分析显示 AN 与伏隔壳中 c-Fos 阳性细胞的数量呈正相关，但在基底外侧杏仁核中呈负相关。此外，与 AN 相关的伏隔核-杏仁核相互作用似乎是由多巴胺 D1 受体 (D1DR) 介导的。在第二次味觉暴露时在伏隔壳和基底外侧杏仁核中注射 SCH23390（D1DR 拮抗剂）导致 AN 选择性受损，但具有相反的长期影响。