Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior

This study investigates how dopamine and acetylcholine dynamics change during learning in rats, finding that acetylcholine signals evolve sequentially and complement dopamine in determining learning content and rate.

This study shows that disrupting the microbiome affects morphine reward and gene expression in the medial prefrontal cortex differently in adolescent and adult mice.

The paper shows that D1- and D2-MSNs in the NAc shell encode appetitive and aversive stimuli and their extinction, with D2-MSNs playing a key role in aversive association extinction.

The paper investigates how reduced dopamine D1 receptor availability in aging is linked to decreased functional specificity in cortico-striatal circuits and poorer memory performance.

This study examines the effects of D1 and D2 receptor antagonists on probabilistic learning and brain connectivity in macaques, revealing distinct neural networks associated with learning and motivation.

The paper proposes a framework to explain how transient dopamine signals can shift neural activity dominance between medium spiny neuron subtypes to enable adaptive decision-making against existing biases.

This study investigates whether GLO1 inhibition affects cocaine or oxycodone-induced locomotor activity and conditioned place preference, finding no significant effects.

This study shows that sex and genetic background affect oxycodone self-administration in rats, with heritability estimates ranging from 0.25 to 0.54.

The paper generates and validates a Drd1-Flpo knock-in mouse line that expresses Flp recombinase specifically in D1DR+ neurons, enabling intersectional genetic studies of these neurons.

The paper investigates how periaqueductal gray (PAG) activity modulates reward-seeking behavior by suppressing escape responses and promoting persistence during disappointment.

This study shows that GDNF regulates serotonin system development and adult function, with excess GDNF linked to neuropsychiatric disorders.

This study shows that prefrontal cortex dopamine responds to the total valence of stimuli, not just net valence, using high-sensitivity fluorescence recordings.

This study shows that adolescent HIIT in rats reduces cocaine place preference and increases striatum ΔFosB, suggesting potential protective effects against cocaine abuse.

This study investigates how adolescent THC exposure affects adult morphine responses, finding increased reward and altered brain connectivity.

This paper identifies distinct roles of dopamine D3 and D1 receptors in regulating motivation and reinforcement in the nucleus accumbens, showing compartmentalized signaling within the same cell type.

This study shows that Acss2 knockout mice consume less alcohol and exhibit epigenetic and transcriptional changes in the ventral striatum, particularly in males.

This study investigates how behavioral traits and genetic markers relate to fentanyl intake escalation in rats, identifying gene networks and transcription factors associated with addiction-prone behaviors.

This study compares the effects of SK609, a novel dopamine D3 receptor agonist and norepinephrine transporter blocker, with amphetamine and methylphenidate on risky choice behavior in a probabilistic discounting task.

This study shows that HIV infection enhances cocaine locomotor sensitization in mice and that activating astrocytic Gq signaling in the nucleus accumbens can reverse this effect.

The paper introduces a novel TIDAL conflict test to assess sex differences in anxiety and heat sensitivity in mice, finding females exhibit stronger anxiety-like behaviors.

This study shows that integrating inverse dopamine and serotonin signals in the striatum is essential for associative learning.

This study shows that muscarinic receptors enhance motivation-related preparatory neural activity in humans, as evidenced by changes in reaction times and vigour during an incentivized task.

The paper shows that cocaine exposure reduces dopamine transporter levels in striatal astrocytes, with compulsive cocaine-seeking habits linked to reduced DAT mRNA in the nucleus accumbens shell.

This study shows that stimulating 2A adrenoceptors with Guanfacine improves error-based learning and prediction error signaling in the anterior cingulate cortex and striatum of nonhuman primates.

The paper shows dopamine stabilizes reward-related neural attractors and guides behavior by activating them online in mice.

This study identifies the role of SNr glutamatergic neurons in regulating social hierarchy in mice through optogenetic and chemogenetic manipulations.

This study quantifies D1 and D2 receptor cell densities in mouse forebrain across development, revealing a cortico-subcortical shift and sex differences in maturational patterns.

This study investigates the role of dopamine D2 autoreceptors in regulating VTA dopamine neuron responses to aversive stimuli and finds they act as a regulatory brake with sex-biased effects on threat processing.

This study uses chemogenetics and fast-scan cyclic voltammetry to show that inhibiting VTA-DA neurons suppresses methamphetamine-induced dopamine transmission and its behavioral effects in rats.