A role for oxytocin and 5-HT1A receptors in the prosocial effects of 3,4 methylenedioxymethamphetamine (“ecstasy”)

Thompson, Murray R.; Callaghan, Paul D.; Hunt, Glenn E.; Cornish, Jennifer L.; McGregor, Iain S.

doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2007.02.032

Cited by 211 publications

(258 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Although dysregulations of the endogenous oxytocin system have been reported following acute or repeated alcohol (Kovacs et al , 1998), cocaine (Sarnyai, 1998, Sarnyai et al , 1992, GHB (van Nieuwenhuijzen et al , 2010) , 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) (Thompson et al , 2007) and morphine (Kovacs et al , 1987) Nonetheless, the MAP induced upregulation observed in our study was profound (50-80 %) and was replicated in genetically modified A 2A receptor KO mice.…”

supporting

confidence: 55%

Chronic methamphetamine treatment induces oxytocin receptor up-regulation in the amygdala and hypothalamus via an adenosine A2A receptor-independent mechanism

Zanos

Wright

Georgiou

et al. 2014

Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior

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supporting

confidence: 55%

Chronic methamphetamine treatment induces oxytocin receptor up-regulation in the amygdala and hypothalamus via an adenosine A2A receptor-independent mechanism

Zanos

Wright

Georgiou

et al. 2014

Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior

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“…At first glance, these findings suggest that behaviors other than social play serve as a reinforcer after psychostimulant treatment (Thiel et al, 2008). For example, rats treated with MDMA show increases in passive social behavior (Thompson et al, 2007), and rewarding properties of the tactile aspects of social interaction have indeed been demonstrated (Kummer et al, 2011). Although in our experiments, passive social interaction was hardly ever observed, the possibility that social exploratory behavior contributed to responding after treatment with cocaine or methylphenidate can as yet not be excluded.…”

Section: Dissociable Roles Of Dopamine and Noradrenaline In Social Plmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contrasting Roles of Dopamine and Noradrenaline in the Motivational Properties of Social Play Behavior in Rats

Achterberg

Kerkhof

Servadio

et al. 2015

Neuropsychopharmacol

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Social play behavior, abundant in the young of most mammalian species, is thought to be important for social and cognitive development. Social play is highly rewarding, and as such, the expression of social play depends on its pleasurable and motivational properties. Since the motivational properties of social play have only sporadically been investigated, we developed a setup in which rats responded for social play under a progressive ratio schedule of reinforcement. Dopaminergic neurotransmission plays a key role in incentive motivational processes, and both dopamine and noradrenaline have been implicated in the modulation of social play behavior. Therefore, we investigated the role of dopamine and noradrenaline in the motivation for social play. Treatment with the psychostimulant drugs methylphenidate and cocaine increased responding for social play, but suppressed its expression during reinforced play periods. The dopamine reuptake inhibitor GBR-12909 increased responding for social play, but did not affect its expression, whereas the noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor atomoxetine decreased responding for social play as well as its expression. The effects of methylphenidate and cocaine on responding for social play, but not their play-suppressant effects, were blocked by pretreatment with the dopamine receptor antagonist α-flupenthixol. In contrast, pretreatment with the α2-adrenoceptor antagonist RX821002 prevented the play-suppressant effect of methylphenidate, but left its effect on responding for social play unaltered. In sum, the present study introduces a novel method to study the incentive motivational properties of social play behavior in rats. Using this paradigm, we demonstrate dissociable roles for dopamine and noradrenaline in social play behavior: dopamine stimulates the motivation for social play, whereas noradrenaline negatively modulates the motivation for social play behavior and its expression.

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“…In animals, the empathogenic agent 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy) releases OT, and an OT antagonist prevents its prosocial effects (Thompson et al, 2007). In humans, OT enhances inference of emotional states (Domes et al, 2007a) as well as trust in (Kosfeld et al, 2005;Baumgartner et al, 2008) and generosity toward (Zak et al, 2007) others, suggesting that OT has empathogenic properties and could influence behavior in the context of social bonding.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oxytocin Enhances Amygdala-Dependent, Socially Reinforced Learning and Emotional Empathy in Humans

Hurlemann¹,

Patin²,

Onur³

et al. 2010

J. Neurosci.

671

507

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Oxytocin (OT) is becoming increasingly established as a prosocial neuropeptide in humans with therapeutic potential in treatment of social, cognitive, and mood disorders. However, the potential of OT as a general facilitator of human learning and empathy is unclear. The current double-blind experiments on healthy adult male volunteers investigated first whether treatment with intranasal OT enhanced learning performance on a feedback-guided item-category association task where either social (smiling and angry faces) or nonsocial (green and red lights) reinforcers were used, and second whether it increased either cognitive or emotional empathy measured by the Multifaceted Empathy Test. Further experiments investigated whether OT-sensitive behavioral components required a normal functional amygdala. Results in control groups showed that learning performance was improved when social rather than nonsocial reinforcement was used. Intranasal OT potentiated this social reinforcement advantage and greatly increased emotional, but not cognitive, empathy in response to both positive and negative valence stimuli. Interestingly, after OT treatment, emotional empathy responses in men were raised to levels similar to those found in untreated women. Two patients with selective bilateral damage to the amygdala (monozygotic twins with congenital Urbach-Wiethe disease) were impaired on both OT-sensitive aspects of these learning and empathy tasks, but performed normally on nonsocially reinforced learning and cognitive empathy. Overall these findings provide the first demonstration that OT can facilitate amygdala-dependent, socially reinforced learning and emotional empathy in men.

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A role for oxytocin and 5-HT1A receptors in the prosocial effects of 3,4 methylenedioxymethamphetamine (“ecstasy”)

Cited by 211 publications

References 19 publications

Chronic methamphetamine treatment induces oxytocin receptor up-regulation in the amygdala and hypothalamus via an adenosine A2A receptor-independent mechanism

Chronic methamphetamine treatment induces oxytocin receptor up-regulation in the amygdala and hypothalamus via an adenosine A2A receptor-independent mechanism

Contrasting Roles of Dopamine and Noradrenaline in the Motivational Properties of Social Play Behavior in Rats

Oxytocin Enhances Amygdala-Dependent, Socially Reinforced Learning and Emotional Empathy in Humans

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