Food hoarding, but not food intake, is attenuated by acute diazepam treatment in female Mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus)

This article is part of a Special Issue “Energy Balance”. Effects of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) on food hoarding are unknown in rodents, and the effects of energy balance and GABA have not been evaluated in females. To evaluate the role of food deprivation and GABA on food hoarding, female Mongolian gerbils were given i.p. injection of diazepam (1 mg/kg and 3 mg/kg, respectively), a GABAA receptor agonist. Among food-deprived females, there was a bimodal pattern in the frequency of gerbils with different levels of food hoarding. High food hoarding (HFH) and low food hoarding (LFH) gerbils were analyzed. Diazepam blocked food deprivation-induced food hoarding in HFH gerbils, but not in LFH gerbils. This blockade was associated with increased cellular activation in selected brain areas, such as the nucleus accumbens (NAcc), caudate putamen (CP) and ventral tegmental area (VTA), which suggested that direct activation of GABA in the brain reward circuitry decreased food hoarding in HFH females. Moreover, diazepam increased Fos expression in field CA2 and CA3 of the hippocampus, but had no significant effect on Fos expression in field CA1 and dentate gyrus (DG) of the hippocampus, indicating that the hippocampus has area-specific effects on food hoarding in HFH gerbils. Diazepam did not alter food intake in both HFH and LFH gerbils. In addition, serum corticosterone concentrations were higher in the HFH than in the LFH ones. Together, these data indicated that food deprivation increased food hoarding in female gerbils, diazepam reduced food deprivation-induced food hoarding in HFH gerbils, and that GABA might influence food hoarding via classical reward circuitry via the mesolimbic dopamine system and specific hippocampal areas.