ReviewBrain research reviews2009
kappa-Opioid receptor signaling and brain reward function.
Review in Brain research reviews, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 132 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
132 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 207 citations in OpenAlex.
- A review of the kappa opioid receptor system in opioid use.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Butorphanol decreased the median effective concentration of ropivacaine in ultrasound-guided interscalene brachial plexus block.PloS one · 2026Trial
- Computationally Informed Insights Into Anhedonia and Treatment by Kappa Opioid Receptor Antagonism.Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging · 2025Trial
- A randomized proof-of-mechanism trial applying the 'fast-fail' approach to evaluating κ-opioid antagonism as a treatment for anhedonia.Nature medicine · 2020Trial
- Who Receives Nalmefene and How Does It Work in the Real World? A Single-Arm, Phase IV Study of Nalmefene in Alcohol Dependent Outpatients: Baseline and 1-Month Results.Clinical drug investigation · 2018Trial
- Pharmacological differentiation of opioid receptor antagonists by molecular and functional imaging of target occupancy and food reward-related brain activation in humans.Molecular psychiatry · 2011Trial
- Anesthetics as emerging therapeutics for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): bridging bench and bedside.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Review
- Structural characterization of kappa-opioid receptor dimer in complex with two G proteins.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Exploring wanting and liking during positive human-animal interactions.Psychopharmacology · 2026Article
- The ventrolateral preoptic nucleus: a multisystem integrator in sleep-wake regulation.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Review
- From Neural Circuits to Behavior: Examining the Central Role of Anhedonia in Major Depression.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026Review
- Modulatory effects of orexin and dynorphin on stress-related alcohol seeking and relapse: pivotal role of the posterior paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Review
- From Monoamines to Systems Psychiatry: Rewiring Depression Science and Care (1960s-2025).Biomedicines · 2025Article
- κ-Opioid Receptor Agonists as Robust Pain-Modulating Agents: Mechanisms and Therapeutic Potential in Pain Modulation.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Aticaprant, a kappa opioid receptor antagonist, and the recovered 'interest and pleasure' in the concept of major depressive disorder.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2025Review
- Threonine-53 Phosphorylation of Dopamine Transporter Dictates κ-Opioid Receptor-Mediated Locomotor Suppression, Aversion, and Cocaine Reward.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025Article
- Artificial intelligence approaches for anti-addiction drug discovery.Digital discovery · 2025Review
- Neural Networks and Chemical Messengers: Insights into Tobacco Addiction.Brain topography · 2025Article
- Morphine-Induced Antinociception Is Potentiated and Dopamine Elevations Are Inhibited by the Biased Kappa Opioid Receptor Agonist Triazole 1.1.ACS chemical neuroscience · 2025Article
- Endogenous opioid receptors and the feast or famine of maladaptive feeding.Nature communications · 2025Review
72 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The dynorphin-like peptides have profound effects on the state of the brain reward system and human and animal behavior. The dynorphin-like peptides affect locomotor activity, food intake, sexual behavior, anxiety-like behavior, and drug intake. Stimulation of kappa-opioid receptors, the endogenous receptor for the dynorphin-like peptides, inhibits dopamine release in the striatum (nucleus accumbens and caudate putamen) and induces a negative mood state in humans and animals. The administration of drugs of abuse increases the release of dopamine in the striatum and mediates the concomitant release of dynorphin-like peptides in this brain region. The reviewed studies suggest that chronic drug intake leads to an upregulation of the brain dynorphin system in the striatum and in particular in the dorsal part of the striatum/caudate putamen. This might inhibit drug-induced dopamine release and provide protection against the neurotoxic effects of high dopamine levels. After the discontinuation of chronic drug intake these neuroadaptations remain unopposed which has been suggested to contribute to the negative emotional state associated with drug withdrawal and increased drug intake. kappa-Opioid receptor agonists have also been shown to inhibit calcium channels. Calcium channel inhibitors have antidepressant-like effects and inhibit the release of norepinephrine. This might explain that in some studies kappa-opioid receptor agonists attenuate nicotine and opioid withdrawal symptomatology. A better understanding of the role of dynorphins in the regulation of brain reward function might contribute to the development of novel treatments for mood disorders and other disorders that stem from a dysregulation of the brain reward system.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.