Activation of posterior ventral pallidum by bitter taste in mice

The posterior ventral pallidum (pVP) is involved in positive affective behaviors and is called the "hedonic hotspot". However, the responses of the pVP neurons to affective taste stimuli are poorly understood. We examined the expression of <i>c-fos</i> , a molecular marker of neuronal activation, in the pVP and surrounding regions after several taste stimuli. The <i>c-fos</i> -positive cells were significantly increased in the pVP by bitter taste stimuli, which induced disgust reactions, suggesting that a subset of pVP neurons was activated by bitter taste stimuli associated with negative affective behaviors.