Article
Anatomy & Morphology
Imre Kallo, Azar Omrani, Frank J. Meye, Han de Jong, Zsolt Liposits, Roger A. H. Adan
Summary: Orexin neurons play a role in homeostatic regulatory processes and provide input to VTA, a central hub processing reward and motivation. This study found that the VTA neurons projecting to the mNAcs receive more input from orexin neurons compared to those projecting to the mPFC. Orexin exerts facilitatory effects on both clusters of dopamine neurons.
BRAIN STRUCTURE & FUNCTION
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Hikari Yamamoto, Yasuyuki Nagumo, Yukiko Ishikawa, Yoko Irukayama-Tomobe, Yukiko Namekawa, Tsuyoshi Nemoto, Hiromu Tanaka, Genki Takahashi, Akihisa Tokuda, Tsuyoshi Saitoh, Hiroshi Nagase, Hiromasa Funato, Masashi Yanagisawa
Summary: This study provides proof-of-concept for the safer mechanistic treatment of narcolepsy-cataplexy through selective activation of OX2R.
Editorial Material
Neurosciences
Jacqueline B. Mehr, Michelle M. Bilotti, Morgan H. James
Summary: This article discusses how the hypothalamic orexin system is now linked with motivated behavior and becomes overactive in addicted states, offering potential therapeutic opportunities for substance use disorders based on normalizing orexin function.
TRENDS IN NEUROSCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Xinqi Zhou, Ting Xu, Yixu Zeng, Ran Zhang, Ziyu Qi, Weihua Zhao, Keith M. Kendrick, Benjamin Becker
Summary: Social deficits and dysregulations in dopaminergic midbrain-striato-frontal circuits are common symptoms across psychiatric disorders. The present study investigated the effects of the AT1R antagonist losartan on social reward and punishment processing in humans. The findings suggest that losartan modulates approach-avoidance motivation and emotional salience during social punishment versus social reward by influencing the core nodes of the midbrain-striato-frontal circuits.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Shi-Bin Li, Valentina Martinez Damonte, Chong Chen, Gordon X. Wang, Justus M. Kebschull, Hiroshi Yamaguchi, Wen-Jie Bian, Carolin Purmann, Reenal Pattni, Alexander Eckehart Urban, Philippe Mourrain, Julie A. Kauer, Gregory Scherrer, Luis de Lecea
Summary: Sleep quality declines with age and this study identified hyperexcitable hypocretin/orexin (Hcrt/OX) neurons as drivers of sleep fragmentation during aging. Activation of Hcrt neurons increased wakefulness and aged Hcrt neurons showed hyperexcitability and impaired M-current. Disruption of Kcnq2/3 genes in young mice led to sleep destabilization resembling aging-associated sleep fragmentation.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Ryan J. Post, David A. Bulkin, R. Becket Ebitz, Vladlena Lee, Kasey Han, Melissa R. Warden
Summary: Tonic activity in lateral habenula neurons suppresses engagement in reward-seeking behavior in response to both negative and positive valence factors. This finding is important for understanding the balance between reward pursuit and behavioral regulation.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jose A. Gonzalez Abreu, Ashley E. Rosenberg, Brandon A. Fricker, Kelly J. Wallace, Ashley W. Seifert, Aubrey M. Kelly
Summary: The study found that colonial spiny mice are more sociable, prosocial, and less aggressive compared to non-colonial species. Neural responses in colonial species to nonreproductive social interactions indicate the evolution of reward mechanisms associated with promoting large group living. Functional connectivity between oxytocin and tyrosine hydroxylase neural responses suggests the presence of neural mechanisms linked to reward in novel social contexts.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Marta E. Soden, Joshua X. Yee, Larry S. Zweifel
Summary: This study reveals that fast-acting neurotransmitters and slow, modulatory neuropeptides can co-regulate neural circuit outputs through different signaling pathways. By using a genetic-based anatomical disconnect procedure, researchers were able to independently edit neurotransmitter- and neuropeptide-related genes in specific cell types. It was found that the neurotransmitter GABA and the neuropeptide neurotensin work together to regulate dopamine neuron responses and optimize behavior.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Brandon A. Toth, Katie S. Chang, Sarah Fechtali, Christian R. Burgess
Summary: This study found that dopamine release in the striatum plays an important role in regulating cataplexy and REM sleep.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Emi Hasegawa, Ai Miyasaka, Katsuyasu Sakurai, Yoan Cherasse, Yulong Li, Takeshi Sakurai
Summary: The sleep cycle involves alternating non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. A transient increase of dopamine in the basolateral amygdala terminates NREM sleep and initiates REM sleep, playing a critical role in sleep cycle generation. This mechanism is also implicated in cataplectic attacks in narcoleptics.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Anja Holm, Marie-Laure Possovre, Mojtaba Bandarabadi, Kristine F. Moseholm, Jessica L. Justinussen, Ivan Bozic, Rene Lemcke, Yoan Arribat, Francesca Amati, Asli Silahtaroglu, Maxime Juventin, Antoine Adamantidis, Mehdi Tafti, Birgitte R. Kornum
Summary: This study found that miR-137 regulates sleep-wake states by targeting the Hcrt gene. Inhibition of miR-137 increases Hcrt expression and prolongs wakefulness, and this interaction is evolutionarily conserved in different species. Additionally, the study showed that miR-137 expression is regulated by IL-13, and Hcrt gene expression is regulated by miR-137.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Gemma Navarro, William Rea, Cesar Quiroz, Estefania Moreno, Devan Gomez, Cody J. Wenthur, Vicent Casado, Lorenzo Leggio, Matthew C. Hearing, Sergi Ferre
Summary: GHS-R1b facilitates oligomerization with GHS-R1a, impacting its pharmacological properties, but GHSR1a:GHS-R1b:D1R oligomers in the VTA are the main mediators of the dopaminergic effects of ghrelin.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Zi-Jun Wang, Treefa Shwani, Junting Liu, Ping Zhong, Fengwei Yang, Kelcie Schatz, Freddy Zhang, Arnd Pralle, Zhen Yan
Summary: Chronic social isolation stress during adolescence increases susceptibility to neuropsychiatric disorders. This study demonstrates that post-weaning isolation stress induces sex-specific behavioral abnormalities and changes in neuronal activity in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), basal lateral amygdala (BLA), and ventral tegmental area (VTA). The PFC to BLA pathway is causally linked to heightened aggression in stressed males, while the PFC to VTA pathway is causally linked to social withdrawal in stressed females. Furthermore, isolation stress leads to genome-wide transcriptional alterations, with upregulated genes in the BLA of stressed males controlled by the transcription factor CREB, and downregulated neuropeptide Hcrt (Hypocretin/Orexin) in the VTA of stressed females, which can be rescued by Orexin-A treatment.
MOLECULAR PSYCHIATRY
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Mark A. Rossi, Marcus L. Basiri, Yuejia Liu, Yoshiko Hashikawa, Koichi Hashikawa, Lief E. Fenno, Yoon Seok Kim, Charu Ramakrishnan, Karl Deisseroth, Garret D. Stuber
Summary: The lateral hypothalamic area (LHA) contains distinct populations of glutamatergic neurons that project to different brain regions, with neurons projecting to the lateral habenula (LHb) or ventral tegmental area (VTA) showing anatomical, transcriptional, electrophysiological, and functional differences. Neurons projecting to the LHb are particularly sensitive to satiety state and feeding hormones, indicating differential processing of reward and aversion stimuli in divergent efferent pathways.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Yunyun Song, Jiannan Li, Huiming Li, Min Cai, Danmin Miao
Summary: Orexin, a promising target for anti-depression treatment, has been found to be involved in comorbid diseases of depression. Despite the abnormal activity of orexin neurons in depression, the neuro-circuit mechanism of orexin remains unclear. The ventral tegmental area (VTA), as an important downstream factor of orexin neurons, is considered crucial in the mechanism of depression, but the role of VTA orexinergic afferents in depression is still not clear. This study showed that VTA orexinergic afferents participate in the mechanism of depression, with the orexin-1 receptor playing a major role.
BIOCHEMICAL AND BIOPHYSICAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
David E. Moorman, Morgan H. James, Ellen M. McGlinchey, Gary Aston-Jones
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Caitlin A. Orsini, David E. Moorman, Jared W. Young, Barry Setlow, Stan B. Floresco
NEUROSCIENCE AND BIOBEHAVIORAL REVIEWS
(2015)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
David E. Moorman, Gary Aston-Jones
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2015)
Article
Neurosciences
Marcelo F. Lopez, David E. Moorman, Gary Aston-Jones, Howard C. Becker
Article
Neurosciences
David E. Moorman, Morgan H. James, Elisabeth A. Kilroy, Gary Aston-Jones
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2016)
Article
Statistics & Probability
Bo Zhou, David E. Moorman, Sam Behseta, Hernando Ombao, Babak Shahbaba
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN STATISTICAL ASSOCIATION
(2016)
Article
Neurosciences
David E. Moorman, Gary Aston-Jones
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2014)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Elena M. Vazey, David E. Moorman, Gary Aston-Jones
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2018)
Article
Neurosciences
Ifeyinwa Arinze, David E. Moorman
Article
Substance Abuse
John S. Hernandez, Annalise N. Binette, Taryn Rahman, Jeffrey D. Tarantino, David E. Moorman
ALCOHOL-CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH
(2020)
Article
Neurosciences
David E. Moorman, Gary Aston-Jones
Summary: The prefrontal cortex plays a critical role in the execution and inhibition of reward seeking. This study investigates the neural activity in different subregions of the medial prefrontal cortex (PL and IL) during various stages of cocaine seeking. The results reveal complex functions and contributions of both PL and IL regions to drug seeking and addiction.
PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Jessica P. Caballero, Garrett B. Scarpa, Luke Remage-Healey, David E. Moorman
Article
Neurosciences
Debra A. Bercovici, Oren Princz-Lebel, Maric T. Tse, David E. Moorman, Stan B. Floresco
Article
Substance Abuse
Ellen M. Rodberg, Carolina R. den Hartog, Rachel I. Anderson, Howard C. Becker, David E. Moorman, Elena M. Vazey
ALCOHOLISM-CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH
(2017)
Article
Neurosciences
David E. Moorman, Morgan H. James, Elisabeth A. Kilroy, Gary Aston-Jones