Neurobiology of aversive states

Hoebel and colleagues are often known as students of reward and how it is coded in the CNS. This article, however, attempts to focus on the significant advances by Hoebel and others in dissecting out behavioral components of distinct aversive states and in understanding the neurobiology of aversion and the link between aversive states and addictive behaviors. Reward and aversion are not necessarily dichotomous and may reflect an affective continuum contingent upon environmental conditions. Descriptive and mechanistic studies pioneered by Bart Hoebel have demonstrated that the shift in the reward–aversion spectrum may be, in part, a result of changes in central dopamine/acetylcholine ratio, particularly in the nucleus accumbens. The path to aversion appears to include a specific neurochemical signature: reduced dopamine release and increased acetylcholine release in “reward centers” of the brain. Opioid receptors may have a neuromodulatory role on both of these neurotransmitters.

► Hoebel and colleagues advanced the study of neurobiology linked to aversive states.
► Reward and aversion may reflect an affective continuum contingent upon environmental conditions.
► Descriptive and mechanistic studies have demonstrated that the shift in the reward–aversion spectrum may reflect changes in mesolimbic dopamine/acetylcholine ratio.
► Reward deficits associated with aversive states may predispose to addictive behaviors.