Dopaminergic and opioidergic regulation during anticipation and consumption of social and nonsocial rewards
| Autor: | Irene Graf, Patrick Sezen, Christoph Eisenegger, Claudia Massaccesi, Giorgia Silani, Sebastian Korb, Sebastian J. Götzendorfer, Matthäus Willeit |
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| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
Male
Pleasure Narcotic Antagonists Emotions Naltrexone Developmental psychology 0302 clinical medicine Biology (General) reward media_common Opioidergic facial EMG General Neuroscience 05 social sciences Dopaminergic General Medicine Anticipation social touch Medicine Female Amisulpride dopamine Psychology Facial electromyography psychological phenomena and processes Human Research Article medicine.drug Adult QH301-705.5 Science media_common.quotation_subject 050105 experimental psychology General Biochemistry Genetics and Molecular Biology Young Adult 03 medical and health sciences Neurochemical medicine Humans 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences General Immunology and Microbiology food opioids Dopamine Antagonists 030217 neurology & neurosurgery Neuroscience |
| Zdroj: | eLife, Vol 9 (2020) eLife |
| ISSN: | 2050-084X |
| Popis: | The observation of animal orofacial and behavioral reactions has played a fundamental role in research on reward but is seldom assessed in humans. Healthy volunteers (N = 131) received 400 mg of the dopaminergic antagonist amisulpride, 50 mg of the opioidergic antagonist naltrexone, or placebo. Subjective ratings, physical effort, and facial reactions to matched primary social (affective touch) and nonsocial (food) rewards were assessed. Both drugs resulted in lower physical effort and greater negative facial reactions during reward anticipation, especially of food rewards. Only opioidergic manipulation through naltrexone led to a reduction in positive facial reactions to liked rewards during reward consumption. Subjective ratings of wanting and liking were not modulated by either drug. Results suggest that facial reactions during anticipated and experienced pleasure rely on partly different neurochemical systems, and also that the neurochemical bases for food and touch rewards are not identical. eLife digest Studies in rats and other species have shown that two chemical messengers in the brain regulate how much an animal desires a reward, and how pleasant receiving the reward is. In this context, chemicals called opioids control both wanting and enjoying a reward, whereas a chemical called dopamine only regulates how much an animal desires it. However, since these results were obtained from research performed on animals, further studies are needed to determine if these chemicals play the same roles in the human brain. Korb et al. show that the same brain chemicals that control reward anticipation and pleasure in rats are also at work in humans. In the experiment, 131 healthy volunteers received either a drug that blocks opioid signaling in the brain, a drug that blocks dopamine signaling, or a placebo, a pill with no effect. Then, participants were given, on several occasions, either sweet milk with chocolate or a gentle caress on the forearm. Participants rated how much they wanted each of the rewards before receiving it, and how much they liked it after experiencing it. To measure their implicit wanting of the reward, participants also pressed a force-measuring device to increase their chances of receiving the reward. Additionally, small electrodes measured the movement of the volunteer’s smiling or frowning muscles to detect changes in facial expressions of pleasure. Volunteers taking either drug pressed on the device less hard than the participants taking the placebo, suggesting they did not want the rewards as much, and they frowned more as they anticipated the reward, indicating less anticipatory pleasure. However, only the volunteers taking the opioid-blocking drug smiled less when they received a reward, indicating that these participants did not get as much pleasure as others out of receiving it. These differences were most pronounced when volunteers looked at or received the sweet milk with chocolate. This experiment helps to shed light on the chemicals in the human brain that are involved in reward-seeking behaviors. In the future, the results may be useful for developing better treatments for addictions. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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