Both nucleus accumbens and orexin play clear roles in motivated behavior, but the functions of orexin projections to accumbens are poorly understood. Blomeley et al. show that this pathway, via specific orexin excitation of dopamine D2 receptor–expressing neurons, can inhibit reward seeking and exploratory drive when danger is perceived.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$29.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$209.00 per year
only $17.42 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Change history
11 May 2018
In the version of this article initially published, paragraph 8 mentioned intra-accumbens administration of SB334867. This should have read systemic (intraperitoneal) administration. The error has been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions of the article.
References
Blomeley, C., Garau, C. & Burdakov, D. Nat. Neurosci. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-017-0023-y (2017).
Mahler, S. V., Moorman, D. E., Smith, R. J., James, M. H. & Aston-Jones, G. Nat. Neurosci. 17, 1298–1303 (2014).
Nelson, A. B. & Kreitzer, A. C. Annu. Rev. Neurosci. 37, 117–135 (2014).
Tepper, J. M. & Bolam, J. P. Curr. Opin. Neurobiol. 14, 685–692 (2004).
Baldo, B. A., Daniel, R. A., Berridge, C. W. & Kelley, A. E. J. Comp. Neurol. 464, 220–237 (2003).
Trivedi, P., Yu, H., MacNeil, D. J., Van der Ploeg, L. H. & Guan, X. M. FEBS Lett. 438, 71–75 (1998).
Castro, D. C., Terry, R. A. & Berridge, K. C. Neuropsychopharmacology 41, 2101–2111 (2016).
Haghparast, A. et al. Prog. Brain Res. 235, 139–154 (2017).
Mori, K., Kim, J. & Sasaki, K. Peptides 32, 246–252 (2011).
Bertran-Gonzalez, J. et al. J. Neurosci. 28, 5671–5685 (2008).
Yoshida, Y. et al. Eur. J. Neurosci. 14, 1075–1081 (2001).
Chou, T. C. et al. J. Neurosci 21, RC168 (2001).
Nestler, E. J. & Carlezon, W. A. Jr. Biol. Psychiatry 59, 1151–1159 (2006).
Tejeda, H. A. et al. Neuron 93, 147–163 (2017).
Muschamp, J. W. et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 111, E1648–E1655 (2014).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The author declares no competing financial interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mahler, S.V. Stay alert, don’t get hurt. Nat Neurosci 21, 3–5 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-017-0045-5
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-017-0045-5