ArticleMolecular psychiatry2013
Increasing dopamine D2 receptor expression in the adult nucleus accumbens enhances motivation.
Article in Molecular psychiatry, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 99 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
99 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 194 citations in OpenAlex.
- Genetic variation and dopamine D2 receptor availability: a systematic review and meta-analysis of human in vivo molecular imaging studies.Translational psychiatry · 2016Pooled it
- Alpha-Glycerylphosphorylcholine Increases Motivation in Healthy Volunteers: A Single-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Human Study.Nutrients · 2021Trial
- Antipsychotics and amotivation.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2015Trial
- Vitamin A deficiency induces sex-specific reward processing alterations through a dysregulation of the mesolimbic dopamine transmission in mice.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Nucleus Accumbens D1 Receptor Neurons Contribute to Emotional and Metabolic Adaptation to Chronic Hypoxia.Neuroscience bulletin · 2026Article
- Activity-based anorexia enhances glutamatergic synaptic transmission and neuronal excitability within the nucleus accumbens of female mice.Physiological reports · 2026Article
- Computational phenotypes underlying effort-based decision-making and negative symptoms in a transdiagnostic severe mental illness sample.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Dopamine D2 Receptors, D1/D2 Receptor Heteromers and CaMKII Signaling in the Neurobiology of Drug Addiction.Molecular neurobiology · 2026Review
- An ace in the hole? Opportunities and limits of using mice to understand schizophrenia neurobiology.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Review
- Behavioral Effects of Stimulated Dopamine Release and D2-like Receptor Displacement in Parkinson's Patients with Impulse-Control Disorder.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Inhibition of striatal indirect pathway during second postnatal week leads to long-lasting deficits in motivated behavior.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2025Article
- Decoding Post-Viral Fatigue: The Basal Ganglia's Complex Role in Long-COVID.Neurology international · 2024Review
- Orexins/Hypocretins: Gatekeepers of Social Interaction and Motivation.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- The nucleus accumbens in reward and aversion processing: insights and implications.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2024Review
- Short-active gestational photoperiod reduces effortful choice behavior in mice, partial normalization by d-amphetamine.Psychopharmacology · 2023Article
- Low Dopamine D2 Receptor Expression Drives Gene Networks Related to GABA, cAMP, Growth and Neuroinflammation in Striatal Indirect Pathway Neurons.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2023Article
- Cannabidiol and brain function: current knowledge and future perspectives.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2023Review
- Glutathione in the nucleus accumbens regulates motivation to exert reward-incentivized effort.eLife · 2022Article
- Effects of dopamine modulation on chronic stress-induced deficits in reward learning.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2022Article
- Social anhedonia as a Disrupted-in-Schizophrenia 1-dependent phenotype.Scientific reports · 2022Article
39 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
A decrease in dopamine D2 receptor (D2R) binding in the striatum is one of the most common findings in disorders that involve a dysregulation of motivation, including obesity, addiction and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. As disruption of D2R signaling in the ventral striatum--including the nucleus accumbens (NAc)--impairs motivation, we sought to determine whether potentiating postsynaptic D2R-dependent signaling in the NAc would improve motivation. In this study, we used a viral vector strategy to overexpress postsynaptic D2Rs in either the NAc or the dorsal striatum. We investigated the effects of D2R overexpression on instrumental learning, willingness to work, use of reward value representations and modulation of motivation by reward associated cues. Overexpression of postsynaptic D2R in the NAc selectively increased motivation without altering consummatory behavior, the representation of the value of the reinforcer, or the capacity to use reward associated cues in flexible ways. In contrast, D2R overexpression in the dorsal striatum did not alter performance on any of the tasks. Thus, consistent with numerous studies showing that reduced D2R signaling impairs motivated behavior, our data show that postsynaptic D2R overexpression in the NAc specifically increases an animal's willingness to expend effort to obtain a goal. Taken together, these results provide insight into the potential impact of future therapeutic strategies that enhance D2R signaling in the NAc.
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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.