Effects of dopamine and opioid receptor antagonism on the neural processing of social and nonsocial rewards

Autor(en)

Claudia Massaccesi, Sebastian Korb, Sebastian Götzendorfer, Emilio Chiappini, Matthaeus Willeit, Johan N Lundström, Christian Windischberger, Christoph Eisenegger, Giorgia Silani

Abstrakt

Rewards are a broad category of stimuli inducing approach behavior to aid survival. Extensive evidence from animal research has shown that wanting (the motivation to pursue a reward) and liking (the pleasure associated with its consumption) are mostly regulated by dopaminergic and opioidergic activity in dedicated brain areas. However, less is known about the neuroanatomy of dopaminergic and opioidergic regulation of reward processing in humans, especially when considering different types of rewards (i.e., social and nonsocial). To fill this gap of knowledge, we combined dopaminergic and opioidergic antagonism (via amisulpride and naltrexone administration) with functional neuroimaging to investigate the neurochemical and neuroanatomical bases of wanting and liking of matched nonsocial (food) and social (interpersonal touch) rewards, using a randomized, between-subject, placebo-controlled, double-blind design. While no drug effect was observed at the behavioral level, brain activity was modulated by the administered compounds. In particular, opioid antagonism, compared to placebo, reduced activity in the medial orbitofrontal cortex during consumption of the most valued social and nonsocial rewards. Dopamine antagonism, however, had no clear effects on brain activity in response to reward anticipation. These findings provide insights into the neurobiology of human reward processing and suggest a similar opioidergic regulation of the neural responses to social and nonsocial reward consumption.

Organisation(en)

Institut für Psychologie der Kognition, Emotion und Methoden, Institut für Klinische und Gesundheitspsychologie

Externe Organisation(en)

University of Essex, Medizinische Universität Wien, Karolinska Institute

Journal

Human Brain Mapping

Band

45

ISSN

1065-9471

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.26645

Publikationsdatum

03-2024

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

501001 Allgemeine Psychologie, 106025 Neurobiologie

Schlagwörter

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Clinical Neurology, Neurology, Radiological and Ultrasound Technology, Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging, Anatomy

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/effects-of-dopamine-and-opioid-receptor-antagonism-on-the-neural-processing-of-social-and-nonsocial-rewards(12b494b0-f955-4002-b0f4-7c6ad3ce6932).html