Hot Off the Press – January, 2025 Published in Nature Communications by Miriam Bocarsly, Mike Michaelides and Veronica Alvarez, et al. of the NIDA IRP. Summary Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is frequently comorbid with anxiety disorders, yet whether alcohol abuse precedes or follows the expression of anxiety remains unclear. Rodents offer control over the first drink,… [Read More]
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Expectancy-related changes in firing of dopamine neurons depend on hippocampus
Featured Paper of the Month – January 2025
Published in Nature Communications by Zhewei Zhang, Yuji Takahashi and Geoffrey Schoenbaum et al. of the NIDA IRP Behavioral Neurophysiology Neuroscience Section.
We studied rats with hippocampus damage as they played a smell-based game. The game involved four contexts with different reward structures changing over time.
Technology Development Initiative – Paper of the Month – December 2024
A fast and responsive voltage indicator with enhanced sensitivity for unitary synaptic events Neuron.
The paper introduces ASAP5, a genetically encoded voltage indicator (GEVI) optimized for detecting electrical activity in neurons with improved speed, sensitivity, and signal resolution. The study highlights ASAP5’s in vitro and in vivo utility across species (flies, fish, mice, and human neurons). It bridges the gap between low-throughput electrophysiology and non-invasive imaging, making it a valuable resource for investigating synaptic dysfunction in neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative diseases.
Genetic or pharmacological GHSR blockade has sexually dimorphic effects in rodents on a high-fat diet
Featured Paper of the Month – December 2024
Published in Nature Communications Biology by András H Lékó, Adriana Gregory-Flores and Lorenzo Leggio et al. of the NIDA IRP Clinical Psychoneuroendocrinology and Neuropsychopharmacology Section.
In this study. we investigated whether the deletion of the GHSR gene (GHSR-KO) in rats can prevent or attenuate weight gain caused by a high-fat diet.
Lorenzo Leggio Recieves 2023 Arthur S. Flemming Award
Lorenzo Leggio, M.D., Ph.D. is a 2023 recipient of the Arthur S. Flemming Award for his exceptional service as a Federal Employee. Dr. Leggio received his award in a ceremony on November 14, 2024. The Flemming Awards are managed by the George Washington University’s Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and recipients include many notable figures… [Read More]
Technology Development Initiative – Paper of the Month – November 2024
DART.2: bidirectional synaptic pharmacology with thousandfold cellular specificity Nat Methods.
Understanding how specific brain cells drive behavior requires targeted, cell- and circuit-specific neuropharmacology. DART.2 (Drugs Acutely Restricted by Tethering, version 2) offers improved cellular precision for targeting drugs compared to the original DART.1 technology, enabling unprecedented brain-wide drug distribution and bidirectional modulation of neurotransmitter pathways to examine behavior.
VTA glutamatergic projections to the nucleus accumbens suppress psychostimulant-seeking behavior.
Featured Paper of the Month – November 2024
Published in Neuropsychopharmacology by Flavia Barbano and Marisela Morales, et al. of the NIDA IRP Neuronal Networks Section.
Our study shows that activating a parallel VTA-originating glutamatergic pathway targeting the NAc shell can suppress psychostimulant-seeking behavior.
A bitopic agonist bound to the dopamine 3 receptor reveals a selectivity site.
Hot Off the Press – October 15, 2024 Published in Nature Communications with contributions from Alessandro Bonifazi , Francisco Battiti and Amy Hauck Newman of the NIDA IRP Medicinal Chemistry Section. Summary We have been designing bitopic ligands for more than two decades with the idea that the secondary pharmacophore would bind in a site… [Read More]
Technology Development Initiative – Paper of the Month – October 2024
High Spatiotemporal Resolution Radial Encoding Single-Vessel fMRI Adv Sci (Weinh)
This paper implemented a radial encoding MRI scheme to measure blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signals of single vessels at microscopic level in the rat somatosensory cortex. In addition, besides from detecting refined hemodynamic response of intracortical micro-venules, this radial encoding-based single-vessel fMRI is capable of distinguishing contributions of intravascular and extravascular effects of signals from vessel and peri-vessel voxels. This combination further benefits real-time single-vessel BOLD fMRI, CBV, and cerebral blood flow studies, making it a valuable tool for advanced brain functional mapping with high-field MRI scanners.
Involvement of dopamine D3 receptor in impulsive choice decision-making in male rats.
Featured Paper of the Month – October 2024
Published in Neuropharmacology by Hui Shen, Zilu Ma and Yihong Yang, et al. of the NIDA IRP Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopy Section.
In this study, we used the delay-discounting task (DDT) to identify rats with different levels of impulsivity.
