Opioids and Motivation

Dum, Jane; Herz, A.

doi:10.1179/isr.1987.12.2.180

Cited by 13 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 116 publications

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“…In recent years, interest has focused on the endogenous opioid system in learning, maternal behavior, and social reward 11 . Endogenous opioids are generally thought to mediate “the positive affect created by a rewarding situation.” 12,13 Opioids are implicated in maternal behavior, as demonstrated by the effects of naloxone in preventing its induction in sheep, 14 and the potentiating effects of morphine on maternal acceptance in nonparturient ewes 15 . Suckling promotes the release of opioids in the medial preoptic area of sheep, while plasma levels of endorphins double in lactating women when their infants are suckling 16 .…”

Section: Mother‐infant Bonding and Manipulations Of The Mother's Opiomentioning

confidence: 99%

Early Learning and the Social Bond

Keverne

Nevison

Martel

1997

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

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Section: Mother‐infant Bonding and Manipulations Of The Mother's Opiomentioning

confidence: 99%

Early Learning and the Social Bond

Keverne

Nevison

Martel

1997

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

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“…The cause of this discrepancy is unknown, though slight inconsistencies in experimental conditions such as drug dosage, concentration of sucrose reinforcer, and withdrawal period may all be partially responsible. Both the current study and shown to decrease both sucrose consumption and motivated behavior in opioid-naïve animals 48,49 . Chronic opioid exposure has been associated with decreases in opioid receptor expression and availability as well as decreased endogenous opioid peptide gene expression in the VTA [50][51][52] .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 50%

Protracted morphine withdrawal corresponds with sex-specific alterations to motivated behavior and mesoaccumbal subcircuit dopamine cell plasticity

Gomez¹,

Kahl²,

Brettingen³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Background: Opioid use disorder is associated with enduring psychological withdrawal symptoms believed to contribute to drug abuse. Amongst these are shifts in motivational states, wherein pursuit of drug consumption exceeds that of non-drug rewards, reinforcing escalated opioid use and relapse vulnerability. A critical regulator of behavioral reinforcement, the mesoaccumbal dopamine (DA) system is thought to be both necessary and sufficient for opioid motivation. However, previous research into its involvement in opioid withdrawal has been limited to acute vs protracted timepoints, global neuroadaptations vs those in subcircuits, and overwhelmingly focused on males vs females. Methods: Evaluations of effort-based motivated behavior for both sucrose and morphine reward were combined with patch clamp electrophysiological assessments of synaptic plasticity within lateral vs medial DA neurons projecting to the lateral vs medial nucleus accumbens shell during protracted morphine withdrawal in male and female mice. Further effects of mesoaccumbal subcircuit inhibition on motivated behavior for sucrose were also measured. Results: Protracted morphine withdrawal was found to be associated with elevations in morphine seeking, intake, and motivation compared to saline controls in both sexes. Escalation of intake was paralleled by a male-exclusive reduction in motivation for the non-drug reward, sucrose. Male-exclusive neuroadaptations during protracted withdrawal were also found, with reductions in neuronal excitability and increased inhibitory (GABAAR-dependent) synaptic transmission found in lateral ventral tegmental area (VTA) DA neurons projecting to the lateral nucleus accumbens shell, though not in medial DA projections to the medial shell. Finally, chemogenetic inhibition of the lateral but not medial subcircuit was found to significantly reduce motivated responding for sucrose in male morphine-naive mice. Conclusions: These data suggest that protracted opioid withdrawal is associated with a sex-independent increase in opioid consumption and motivation. They also suggest that male-specific reductions in motivation for non-drug reward during protracted withdrawal may be driven by a hypoactive state in a lateral mesoaccumbal DA subcircuit driven in part by increased inhibition of DA cells. These insights may be useful in development of therapies that temper withdrawal-associated psychological states predisposed towards prolonged and escalated opioid intake, a major treatment goal for OUD patients.

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“…'Wanting' has been characterized as the subjective emotional state elicited by the representation of value, in response to the presentation of desirable stimuli of the highest value to the individual goals of the recipient [23]. Further, the positive emotional state of 'liking' increases the power of the stimuli to excite the recipient further than the state of 'wanting' [24], motivating approach behaviours as well as positively valenced emotions [23]. This contrasts with the subjective emotional state elicited by undesirable events, which produces negative representations of value to the individual goals of the recipient.…”

Section: What Is Social Bonding?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, the presence of aversive stimuli activates stress that can release endorphins, enabling the observer to evaluate an unrewarding stimulus in a more positive or less negative way. Changes in the affective colouring given to aversive stimuli can reduce sensitivity to potentially negative outcomes associated with a social relationship and may aid in the search and attainment of this relationship to favour the formation of positive associations, facilitating approach behaviours [24]. In the case described above, the approach is achieved through endogenous release of endorphins due to the internal stimulus of stress [24].…”

Section: Origin Of the Sociable Primatementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Changes in the affective colouring given to aversive stimuli can reduce sensitivity to potentially negative outcomes associated with a social relationship and may aid in the search and attainment of this relationship to favour the formation of positive associations, facilitating approach behaviours [24]. In the case described above, the approach is achieved through endogenous release of endorphins due to the internal stimulus of stress [24]. In conditions of high uncertainty or fear, primates use a number of behaviours to ameliorate stress that involve the endorphin system (e.g.…”

Section: Origin Of the Sociable Primatementioning

confidence: 99%

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Communicative roots of complex sociality and cognition: neuropsychological mechanisms underpinning the processing of social information

Roberts

Dunbar

Roberts

2022

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Primate social bonds are described as being especially complex in their nature, and primates have unusually large brains for their body size compared to other mammals. Communication in primates has attracted considerable attention because of the important role it plays in social bonding. It has been proposed that differentiated social relationships are cognitively complex because primates need to continuously update their knowledge about different types of social bonds. Therefore, primates infer whether an opportunity for social interaction is rewarding (valuable to individual goals) based on their knowledge of the social relationships of the interactants. However, exposure to distraction and stress has detrimental effects on the dopaminergic system, suggesting that understanding social relationships as rewarding is affected in these conditions. This paper proposes that complex communication evolved to augment the capacity to form social relationships during stress through flexibly modifying intentionality in communication (audience checking, response waiting and elaboration). Intentional communication may upregulate dopamine dynamics to allow recognition that an interaction is rewarding during stress. By examining these associations between complexity of communication and stress, we provide new insights into the cognitive skills involved in forming social bonds in primates and the evolution of communication systems in both primates and humans. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Cognition, communication and social bonds in primates’.

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Opioids and Motivation

Cited by 13 publications

References 116 publications

Early Learning and the Social Bond

Early Learning and the Social Bond

Protracted morphine withdrawal corresponds with sex-specific alterations to motivated behavior and mesoaccumbal subcircuit dopamine cell plasticity

Communicative roots of complex sociality and cognition: neuropsychological mechanisms underpinning the processing of social information

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