Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40204433›Full record

ArticleThe Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience2025

Optogenetic Stimulation of Novel Tph2-Cre Rats Advances Insight into Serotonin's Role in Locomotion, Reinforcement, and Compulsivity.

Rhiannon Robke, Francesca Sansi, Tara Arbab, Adria Tunez, Miranda Moore, Dusan Bartsch, Kai Schönig, Ingo Willuhn

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Rhiannon RobkeThe Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Amsterdam 1105BA, The Netherlands.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0718-6237
Francesca SansiThe Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Amsterdam 1105BA, The Netherlands.
Tara ArbabThe Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Amsterdam 1105BA, The Netherlands.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7294-7223
Adria TunezThe Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Amsterdam 1105BA, The Netherlands.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4208-472X
Miranda MooreThe Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Amsterdam 1105BA, The Netherlands.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0006-8000-6366
Dusan BartschDepartment of Molecular Biology, Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim 68159, Germany.
Kai SchönigDepartment of Molecular Biology, Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim 68159, Germany.
Ingo WilluhnThe Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Amsterdam 1105BA, The Netherlands i.willuhn@nin.knaw.nl.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6540-6894

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Serotonin critically modulates the activity of many brain networks, including circuits that control motivation and responses to rewarding and aversive stimuli. Furthermore, the serotonin system is targeted by first-line pharmacological treatments for several psychiatric disorders, including obsessive-compulsive disorder. However, understanding the behavioral function of serotonin is hampered by methodological limitations: the (brainstem) location of serotonergic neuron cell-bodies is difficult to access, their innervation of the brain is diffuse, and they release serotonin in relatively low concentrations. Here, we advance this effort by developing novel Tph2-Cre rats, which we utilized to study serotonin in the context of motor, compulsive, and reinforced behaviors using optogenetics in both male and female rats. Specificity and sensitivity of Cre recombinase expression and Cre-dependent processes were validated immunohistochemically, and optogenetic induction of in vivo serotonin release was validated with fast-scan cyclic voltammetry. Optogenetic stimulation of serotonin neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus did not initiate locomotion or alter aversion-induced locomotion, nor did it elicit (real-time) place preference, and it had no measurable effect on compulsive behavior in the schedule-induced polydipsia task. In contrast, this optogenetic stimulation moderately sustained ongoing spontaneous locomotion and robustly reinforced operant lever pressing for self-stimulation of serotonin neurons, which was exacerbated by food restriction. Together, this work both introduces a novel rat Cre line to study serotonin and advances our understanding of serotonin's behavioral functions. Complementing previous findings, we find that brainwide serotonin release has an overall relatively mild effect on behavior, which manifested only in the absence of natural reinforcers and was modulated by physiological state.

Indexed as

Compulsive BehaviorLocomotionOptogeneticsReinforcement, PsychologySerotoninTryptophan HydroxylaseAnimalsConditioning, OperantFemaleIntegrasesMaleRatsRats, TransgenicSerotonergic NeuronsCre recombinaseIntegrasesSerotonintph2 protein, ratTryptophan Hydroxylasecompulsive behaviordorsal raphe nucleus; intracranial self-stimulationoptogeneticsserotonintransgenic rats

Identifiers

PMID40204433
PMCPMC12096035

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Registered trials

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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.