Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior

This study identifies molecular and structural changes in nucleus accumbens neuron subtypes during fentanyl abstinence that mediate negative emotional behaviors.

This study shows that EcoHIV inoculation disrupts decision-making in rats with a history of cocaine use, indicating frontal-striatal circuit dysfunction.

This study investigates how patterns of drug intake and environmental cues influence relapse in rats, finding that binge-like cocaine intake predicts relapse despite escalating costs and that cues can hierarchically modulate drug-seeking behavior.

This study investigates the role of A13 dopaminergic neurons in movement and reward using transgenic rats, finding they are involved in fine forelimb movements but not reward-based behavior.

The paper shows that amygdala neurons regulate dopamine neurons via disinhibition in rewarding environments, linking environmental context to basal ganglia circuits.

This study investigates overharvesting behavior in opioid use disorder using a patch-foraging task and neuromelanin-sensitive MRI, finding a link between ventral tegmental area function and maladaptive reward pursuit.

This study shows that maternal care in mice is shaped by a reinforcement learning mechanism involving dopamine signals as the primary reward.

This study identifies transcriptomic changes in the nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS) in response to alcohol dependence and stress, highlighting IFN signaling and specific genes linked to increased alcohol consumption.

This study shows that Neuroligin-3 in dopamine neurons affects behavioral and neurobiological responses to chronic morphine exposure in mice.

This study shows that chronic methamphetamine exposure in rats causes cognitive deficits by increasing inhibitory synaptic transmission in the prefrontal cortex, which can be mitigated by reducing parvalbumin-positive interneuron activity.

This study investigates the role of somatostatin neurons in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis in binge drinking, finding sex-dependent effects in female mice.

The paper examines how D2 dopamine receptor expression and reward sensitivity affect learning in a complex decision-making task using human behavioral and neuroimaging data.

This study shows that chronic heroin self-administration reduces basal dopamine levels and alters dopamine release dynamics in the nucleus accumbens, potentially contributing to increased heroin seeking.

This study identifies a novel LHb-RMTg pathway where trace aminergic signalling prevents VTA dopaminergic hypoactivity during acute stress, suggesting TAAR1 as a therapeutic target.

The paper measures cocaine-induced behavioral sensitization across genetically diverse Collaborative Cross strains and their founders, identifying significant heritability and phenotypic variation.

This study investigates how striatal dopamine encodes action-outcome relationships in rats, finding that dopamine release becomes lateralized to reflect the strength of these associations.

The paper identifies genetic loci associated with reversal learning phenotypes in Diversity Outbred mice, revealing a genome-wide significant QTL on chromosome 7.

This study identifies sex-specific roles of serotonin 5HT2c receptor-containing neurons in binge drinking and affective behaviors using rodent models.

The paper identifies an inhibitory pathway from the pedunculopontine nucleus to dopamine neurons that selectively suppresses goal-directed actions.

This study shows that obese mice exhibit increased activity in D1R-expressing spiny projection neurons in the nucleus accumbens during food seeking, which enhances food motivation and contributes to diet-induced obesity.

This paper investigates whether dopamine signals are involved in backward conditioning, showing that optogenetic inhibition of VTADA neurons disrupts both excitatory and inhibitory components of this learning.

This study shows that nociceptive stimuli activate the hypothalamus-habenula circuit, which inhibits the mesolimbic reward system and reduces cocaine-seeking behavior.

This study identifies distinct transcriptomic, physiological, and functional properties of four VP projections and shows their opposing roles in cocaine withdrawal.

The paper assesses cocaine-induced locomotor activation in 20 inbred mouse substrains from six lineages, identifying significant phenotypic differences that could inform genetic studies of addiction.

The paper investigates sex-specific effects of a dopamine transporter variant on behavior and identifies sex-dependent circuit-specific regulation of dopamine signaling.

The paper shows dopamine signals in different striatal regions encode reward prediction errors over distinct time scales, supporting adaptive learning across behaviors.

This study shows that optogenetic activation of BLA[->]NAc core neurons increases cue-induced approach behavior but not instrumental pursuit of cues, indicating a role in reward expectation rather than cue wanting.

This study investigates how maternal immune activation and peripubertal stress interact to influence cocaine addiction-like behavior and striatal transcriptome in rats.