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Type Journal Article
Scope Discipline-based scholarship
Title Opioid antagonism modulates wanting-related frontostriatal connectivity
Organization Unit
Authors
  • Alexander Soutschek
  • Susanna C Weber
  • Thorsten Kahnt
  • Boris B Quednow
  • Philippe Tobler
Item Subtype Original Work
Refereed Yes
Status Published in final form
Language
  • English
Journal Title eLife
Publisher eLife Sciences Publications Ltd.
Geographical Reach international
ISSN 2050-084X
Volume 10
Page Range e71077
Date 2021
Abstract Text Theoretical accounts distinguish between motivational ('wanting') and hedonic ('liking') dimensions of rewards. Previous animal and human research linked wanting and liking to anatomically and neurochemically distinct brain mechanisms, but it remains unknown how the different brain regions and neurotransmitter systems interact in processing distinct reward dimensions. Here, we assessed how pharmacological manipulations of opioid and dopamine receptor activation modulate the neural processing of wanting and liking in humans in a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical trial. Reducing opioid receptor activation with naltrexone selectively reduced wanting of rewards, which on a neural level was reflected by stronger coupling between dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the striatum under naltrexone compared with placebo. In contrast, reducing dopaminergic neurotransmission with amisulpride revealed no robust effects on behavior or neural activity. Our findings thus provide insights into how opioid receptors mediate neural connectivity related to specifically motivational, not hedonic, aspects of rewards.
Free access at PubMed ID
Digital Object Identifier 10.7554/elife.71077
PubMed ID 34761749
Other Identification Number merlin-id:21668
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Keywords General Immunology and Microbiology, General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology, General Medicine, General Neuroscience