ArticleThe Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience2015
Obesity is associated with decreased μ-opioid but unaltered dopamine D2 receptor availability in the brain.
Article in The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 106 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
106 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 233 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effects of bariatric surgery and dietary interventions for obesity on brain neurotransmitter systems and metabolism: A systematic review of positron emission tomography (PET) and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) studies.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2023Pooled it
- Striatal dopamine D2-like receptors availability in obesity and its modulation by bariatric surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Scientific reports · 2023Pooled it
- Gray matter volume alterations in subjects with overweight and obesity: Evidence from a voxel-based meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Pooled it
- A meta-analysis of the relationship between brain dopamine receptors and obesity: a matter of changes in behavior rather than food addiction?International journal of obesity (2005) · 2016Pooled it
- A Systematic Review of the Application And Correlates of YFAS-Diagnosed 'Food Addiction' in Humans: Are Eating-Related 'Addictions' a Cause for Concern or Empty Concepts?Obesity facts · 2015Pooled it
- Dose-Finding of Alfentanil for Hysteroscopy Under Remimazolam Sedation in Obese and Normal-Weight Patients: An Up-and-Down Trial.Drug design, development and therapy · 2026Trial
- Intranasal naloxone rapidly occupies brain mu-opioid receptors in human subjects.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2019Trial
- Dopamine Depletion Reduces Food-Related Reward Activity Independent of BMI.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2016Trial
- Emotional Eating Phenotype is Associated with Central Dopamine D2 Receptor Binding Independent of Body Mass Index.Scientific reports · 2015Trial
- Brain responses to food cue viewing in pregnant women with and without gestational diabetes mellitus.Communications medicine · 2026Article
- A Personalized Medicine Approach: Psychosocial and Genetic Risk Assessments Predictors of Bariatric Surgery Outcomes After 3 Years.Biomedicines · 2026Article
- Infarct-Limiting Efficacy of the μBulletin of experimental biology and medicine · 2026Article
- Aberrant type 2 dopamine and mu-opioid receptor availability in autism spectrum disorder.European journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging · 2026Article
- Mechanisms of metabolic surgery effectiveness in obesity and type 2 diabetes: a puzzle with some known pieces.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2025Review
- PET/fMRI demonstrates that bariatric surgery may reverse striatal dopaminergic dysfunction in women with obesity.Communications medicine · 2025Article
- Comparative Analysis of Food Addiction and Obesity: A Critical Review.Food science & nutrition · 2025Review
- Striatal dopamine tone is positively associated with adiposity in humans as determined by PET using dual dopamine type-2 receptor antagonist tracers.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Article
- Anorexia nervosa is associated with higher brain mu-opioid receptor availability.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Article
- [Journal of nuclear medicine : official publication, Society of Nuclear Medicine · 2025Article
- Neuropsychiatric Abnormalities in Metabolic Disturbances: Interplay of Adipokines and Neurotransmission.Molecular neurobiology · 2025Review
46 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Neurochemical pathways involved in pathological overeating and obesity are poorly understood. Although previous studies have shown increased μ-opioid receptor (MOR) and decreased dopamine D2 receptor (D2R) availability in addictive disorders, the role that these systems play in human obesity still remains unclear. We studied 13 morbidly obese women [mean body mass index (BMI), 42 kg/m(2)] and 14 nonobese age-matched women, and measured brain MOR and D2R availability using PET with selective radioligands [(11)C]carfentanil and [(11)C]raclopride, respectively. We also used quantitative meta-analytic techniques to pool previous evidence on the effects of obesity on altered D2R availability. Morbidly obese subjects had significantly lower MOR availability than control subjects in brain regions relevant for reward processing, including ventral striatum, insula, and thalamus. Moreover, in these areas, BMI correlated negatively with MOR availability. Striatal MOR availability was also negatively associated with self-reported food addiction and restrained eating patterns. There were no significant differences in D2R availability between obese and nonobese subjects in any brain region. Meta-analysis confirmed that current evidence for altered D2R availability in obesity is only modest. Obesity appears to have unique neurobiological underpinnings in the reward circuit, whereby it is more similar to opioid addiction than to other addictive disorders. The opioid system modulates motivation and reward processing, and low μ-opioid availability may promote overeating to compensate decreased hedonic responses in this system. Behavioral and pharmacological strategies for recovering opioidergic function might thus be critical to curb the obesity epidemic.
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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.