Nucleus accumbens acetylcholine and food intake: Decreased muscarinic tone reduces feeding but not food-seeking

Separate groups of food-deprived rats were given 2 h access to food after receiving bilateral nucleus accumbens infusions of the muscarinic antagonist scopolamine methyl bromide (at 0, 1.0, and 10.0 μg/side), the M2-preferring agonist oxotremorine sesquifumarate (Oxo-S; at 0, 1.0, or 10.0 μg/side) or the M2 antagonist AFDX-116 (at 0, 0.2, or 1.0 μg/side). Injections of scopolamine or Oxo-S, but not AFDX-116, reduced food consumption across the 2 h. These experiments confirm a critical role for Acb acetylcholine in promoting food ingestion, and suggest that decreased acetylcholine tone at post-synaptic muscarinic receptors disrupts normal consummatory behavior.