ArticleNeuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology2016
Orexin in Rostral Hotspot of Nucleus Accumbens Enhances Sucrose 'Liking' and Intake but Scopolamine in Caudal Shell Shifts 'Liking' Toward 'Disgust' and 'Fear'.
Article in Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 44 papers.
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
44 citing papers in PubMed, 133 citations in OpenAlex.
- Article
- Article
- Hedonic hotspot in rat olfactory tubercle: map for mu-opioid, orexin, and muscimol enhancement of sucrose 'liking'.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Optogenetic Hedonic Hotspots in the Orbitofrontal Cortex and Insula: Causing Enhancement of Sweetness "Liking".The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026Article
- Hedonic hotspot in rat olfactory tubercle: map for mu-opioid, orexin, and muscimol enhancement of sucrose 'liking'.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Article
- A nociceptive amygdala-striatal pathway modulating affective-motivational pain.Science advances · 2025Article
- The role of dorsal raphe nucleus neuropeptides in reward and aversion.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2025Review
- Contribution of hypothalamic orexin (hypocretin) circuits to pathologies of motivation.British journal of pharmacology · 2024Review
- Glutamatergic supramammillary nucleus neurons respond to threatening stressors and promote active coping.eLife · 2024Article
- Distinct cholinergic circuits underlie discrete effects of reward on attention.Frontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2024Review
- Use of experimental medicine approaches for the development of novel psychiatric treatments based on orexin receptor modulation.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2023Review
- Sleep-mediated regulation of reward circuits: implications in substance use disorders.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2023Review
- Sex differences in activation of extra-hypothalamic forebrain areas during hedonic eating.Brain structure & function · 2022Article
- Actions of feeding-related peptides on the mesolimbic dopamine system in regulation of natural and drug rewards.Addiction neuroscience · 2022Article
- Anxiety and cognitive-related effects of ΔPsychopharmacology · 2022Article
- Orexin-1 receptor signaling in ventral tegmental area mediates cue-driven demand for cocaine.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2022Article
- Neurobiology of the Orexin System and Its Potential Role in the Regulation of Hedonic Tone.Brain sciences · 2022Review
- Developmental Trajectories of Anhedonia in Preclinical Models.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2022Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The nucleus accumbens (NAc) contains a hedonic hotspot in the rostral half of medial shell, where opioid agonist microinjections are known to enhance positive hedonic orofacial reactions to the taste of sucrose ('liking' reactions). Within NAc shell, orexin/hypocretin also has been reported to stimulate food intake and is implicated in reward, whereas blockade of muscarinic acetylcholine receptors by scopolamine suppresses intake and may have anti-reward effects. Here, we show that NAc microinjection of orexin-A in medial shell amplifies the hedonic impact of sucrose taste, but only within the same anatomically rostral site, identical to the opioid hotspot. By comparison, at all sites throughout medial shell, orexin microinjections stimulated 'wanting' to eat, as reflected by increases in intake of palatable sweet chocolates. At NAc shell sites outside the hotspot, orexin selectively enhanced 'wanting' to eat without enhancing sweetness 'liking' reactions. In contrast, microinjections of the antagonist scopolamine at all sites in NAc shell suppressed sucrose 'liking' reactions as well as suppressing intake of palatable food. Conversely, scopolamine increased aversive 'disgust' reactions elicited by bitter quinine at all NAc shell sites. Finally, scopolamine microinjections localized to the caudal half of medial shell additionally generated a fear-related anti-predator reaction of defensive treading and burying directed toward the corners of the transparent chamber. Together, these results confirm a rostral hotspot in NAc medial shell as a unique site for orexin induction of hedonic 'liking' enhancement, similar to opioid enhancement. They also reveal distinct roles for orexin and acetylcholine signals in NAc shell for hedonic reactions and motivated behaviors.
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.