ArticleNeuropharmacology2020
Learned avoidance requires VTA KOR-mediated reductions in dopamine.
Article in Neuropharmacology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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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.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 19 citations in OpenAlex.
- Nucleus accumbens DRD2 receptor agonism attenuates escape behavior.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Article
- Aversion-induced dopamine reductions predict drug-taking and escape behaviors.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2025Article
- Dezocine modulates the reinstatement of conditioned place preference in morphine-dependent rats via the dopamine reward circuitry.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Article
- Limitations and potential of κOR biased agonists for pain and itch management.Neuropharmacology · 2024Review
- Distinct Neuromodulatory Effects of Endogenous Orexin and Dynorphin Corelease on Projection-Defined Ventral Tegmental Dopamine Neurons.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2024Article
- Aversion-induced drug taking and escape behavior involve similar nucleus accumbens core dopamine signaling signatures.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Recapitulating phenotypes of alcohol dependence via overexpression of Oprk1 in the ventral tegmental area of non-dependent TH::Cre rats.Neuropharmacology · 2023Article
- Optogenetic stimulation of lateral hypothalamic orexin/dynorphin inputs in the ventral tegmental area potentiates mesolimbic dopamine neurotransmission and promotes reward-seeking behaviours.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2022Article
- Opioid Receptor-Mediated Regulation of Neurotransmission in the Brain.Frontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2022Review
- A midbrain dynorphin circuit promotes threat generalization.Current biology : CB · 2021Article
- Five Decades of Research on Opioid Peptides: Current Knowledge and Unanswered Questions.Molecular pharmacology · 2020Review
- Differential Modulation of Ventral Tegmental Area Circuits by the Nociceptin/Orphanin FQ System.eNeuroArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Proper learning from an aversive experience is essential for survival, yet it is an aberrant process in a wide range of mental disorders, as well as dopaminergic neurodegenerative disease. While the mesolimbic dopamine system is known to be essential for reward learning, the characterization of a potential pattern of dopamine signaling that guides avoidance remains unknown. Aversive stimuli may directly modulate dopamine signaling through the dynorphin/kappa opioid receptor (KOR) system, as kappa opioid receptors are expressed in this neural circuit and their activation is aversive in both rodents and humans. Ventral tegmental area (VTA) KORs are ideally positioned to directly shape aversion-induced reductions in dopamine signaling, but their role in this process has received little consideration. To determine the necessity of VTA KOR activity in the regulation of dopamine signaling and avoidance, we tested the effects of VTA KOR blockade on real time dopaminergic responses to aversive stimuli and learned avoidance in male Sprague-Dawley rats. We found that blockade of VTA KORs attenuated aversion-induced reductions in dopamine, and this treatment also prevented avoidance following the aversive experience. To determine whether aversion-induced reductions in striatal dopamine are necessary for avoidance, we tested avoidance following treatment with an intra nucleus accumbens D2 receptor agonist. This treatment also prevented avoidance and is consistent with the view that aversion-induced reductions in dopamine reduce dopamine signaling at high affinity D2 receptors and disinhibit an aversion-sensitive striatal output circuit to promote avoidance.
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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.