Research
Slow-timescale regulation of dopamine release governs recovery of a motivational drive over days
Neuron · By Praneel S. Sunkavalli, Joseph C. Madara, Jonnathan Singh Alvarado, Bettina F. Ventura, Jessica G. Baker, Paula K. Zhu, Lauren F. Christenson, Adriana Diaz, Janelle Chen, Evelyn Lazen, Luca Ravotto, Tommaso Patriarchi, Mark L. Andermann & Stephen X. Zhang ·
The Brief
- Study in male mice finds dopamine transmission in the medial preoptic area falls after sexual satiation and recovers over days.
- The slow recovery of dopamine release is proposed to act as a timer for the return of mating drive.
- Changes in neuronal firing rate and in the capacity for dopamine synthesis are reported to control this recovery.
Why it matters
It offers a neural mechanism for how motivational drive is reset over days rather than moments, a timescale that neuroscience models of motivation often do not capture.
Who’s affected
- neuroscientists studying motivation and reward
- researchers working on dopamine signalling
- #dopamine
- #motivation
- #neuroscience
- #mating behavior
- #medial preoptic area
Sunkavalli et al. show that, after sexual satiation in male mice, dopamine transmission in the medial preoptic area falls and recovers over days, acting as a timer for mating-drive recovery. Changes in the neuronal firing rate and in the capacity for dopamine synthesis control…
Timeline
Study on slow-timescale dopamine regulation of motivational drive published in Neuron (cell.com)
cell.com
Slow-timescale regulation of dopamine release governs recovery of a motivational drive over days