# Ventral Pallidum GABA Circuits in Risky Decision Making

> **NIH NIH F31** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE · 2020 · $15,351

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Drug addiction is fundamentally a disorder of decision making, in that addicted individuals often choose drugs
over more adaptive options. Indeed, drugs of abuse persistently alter reward-related brain regions, yet the
behavioral function of such circuits in basic decision making and cognition-related processes is unclear.
Understanding the neural underpinnings of decision making could lead to development of targeted therapeutics
to help addicted individuals tame their unrestrained bias towards drugs. Here I seek to identify a novel circuit
through which the brain promotes adaptive decision making under risky circumstances—a process that may go
awry in addicted individuals. The ventral pallidum (VP) lies at the nexus of reward-seeking and harm-
avoidance brain circuits, and could function as a site where motivational drives influence motor output, an ideal
position for a region influencing risky decision making. Recent evidence reveals a predominant role for
inhibitory, GABAergic VP (VPGABA) neurons in promoting approach behavior in rodents, but VPGABA neurons
target both approach (ventral tegmental area; VTA) and avoidance (lateral habenula; LHb) brain circuits, and
the roles of these projections in aversion avoidance is unknown. We propose that VPGABA neurons both
promote reward seeking via VTA projections, and inhibit aversion avoidance via LHb projections, when
decisions about risky reward seeking are made. To model risky decision making, I employ an operant task in
which rats decide between small/safe food reward and large/risky food reward that is paired with a probabilistic
mild footshock. I will examine the role of VPGABA neurons and their efferent targets to VTA or LHb using cell-
and pathway-specific designer receptor inhibition approaches. My preliminary data indicates that inhibiting all
VPGABA neurons shifts decision making away from risky rewards, and toward safer options. Here I will replicate
and extend these findings, and determine their dependence upon divergent projections to VTA and LHb. I will
also determine the specific constructs influencing changes in decision making, using specific behavioral
assays of motivation for reward, and sensitivity to punishment. Our findings will greatly extend our grasp of the
functional roles for VPGABA circuits in risky decision making that is likely involved in addiction.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9970149
- **Project number:** 5F31DA048578-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE
- **Principal Investigator:** Mitchell Farrell
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $15,351
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-08-01 → 2020-09-29

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9970149

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9970149, Ventral Pallidum GABA Circuits in Risky Decision Making (5F31DA048578-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9970149. Licensed CC0.

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