為了能在受歡迎的餐廳吃飯,，有些人愿意在門口排一個小時的隊。日本一個研究小組通過動物實驗揭示,，為獲得想要的東西而耐心等待的時候,，大腦內(nèi)分泌血清素的神經(jīng)細(xì)胞會變得活躍。
日本沖繩科學(xué)技術(shù)研究所的一個研究小組在新一期美國《神經(jīng)科學(xué)雜志》上發(fā)表論文說,，他們以大白鼠為對象進(jìn)行實驗,，在大白鼠想要食物或水的時候，不馬上給它們提供,，而是讓它們等一段時間,。研究人員把電極固定在大白鼠的腦部，以記錄它們在等待食物時候的神經(jīng)活動,。
研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn),，實驗鼠在等待時，其大腦內(nèi)分泌血清素的神經(jīng)細(xì)胞會變得活躍,，這部分神經(jīng)細(xì)胞分泌血清素的頻率提高到通常情況下的3倍左右,，實驗鼠腦內(nèi)血清素的濃度也相應(yīng)升高，而中途放棄等待實驗鼠的這部分神經(jīng)細(xì)胞活動在它們放棄的幾秒前出現(xiàn)變?nèi)酢?/p>
血清素是一種神經(jīng)傳遞素,。此前的研究顯示,，如果抑制腦內(nèi)血清素發(fā)揮作用，人會變得容易采取沖動的行動,。
這項成果有助于研究注意力缺陷多動障礙（ADHD）等伴有沖動癥狀疾病的發(fā)病原因,，并有助于開發(fā)相應(yīng)的治療方法。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原文出處：
The Journal of Neuroscience January 12, 2011, 31(2):469-479; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3714-10.2011
Activation of Dorsal Raphe Serotonin Neurons Underlies Waiting for Delayed Rewards
Katsuhiko Miyazaki,1 Kayoko W. Miyazaki,1 and Kenji Doya1,2
1Neural Computation Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Okinawa 904-0412, Japan, and 2Computational Neuroscience Laboratories, Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International, Kyoto 619-0288, Japan
The serotonergic system plays a key role in the control of impulsive behaviors. Forebrain serotonin depletion leads to premature actions and steepens discounting of delayed rewards. However, there has been no direct evidence for serotonin neuron activity in relation to actions for delayed rewards. Here we show that serotonin neurons increase their tonic firing while rats wait for food and water rewards and conditioned reinforcement tones. The rate of tonic firing during the delay period was significantly higher for rewards than for tones, for which rats could not wait as long. When the delay was extended, tonic firing persisted until reward or tone delivery. When rats gave up waiting because of extended delay or reward omission, serotonin neuron firing dropped preceding the exit from reward sites. Serotonin neurons did not show significant response when an expected reward was omitted, which was predicted by the theory that serotonin signals negative reward prediction errors. These results suggest that increased serotonin neuron firing facilitates a rat's waiting behavior in prospect of forthcoming rewards and that higher serotonin activation enables longer waiting.
