OSCR

VTA dopamine inputs activate accumbal D1 receptors to promote alcohol seeking.

Overview

Authors: Junwei Xiong1,2, Mengyao Dou1, Xinxin Li1,2, Ting Zeng2,3, Yongliang Liu3, Huizhen Dai1, Chenyu Du1, Xiaowei Shi1, Xiangmin Xu1, Xiaofei Wang1, Xiaofeng Zhu1, Jianing Wei1, Dandan Cui1, Yanzhong Guan1,2
ORCID iDs: Junwei Xiong, Yanzhong Guan
  1. Department of Physiology & Neurobiology, Mudanjiang Medical University, Mudanjiang 157011, China
  2. Heilongjiang Province Key Laboratory of Mechanism and Prevention of Substance Dependence Disease, Mudanjiang 157011, China
  3. Development Anesthesiology, Mudanjiang Medical University, Mudanjiang 157011, China
Institutions: Mudanjiang Medical University (China)
Journal: iScience, volume 29, issue 6, article 116198
Dates: received 7 November 2025; accepted 15 May 2026; published online 2 June 2026
Type: Research article · Language: English
License: CC BY-NC
Identifiers: DOI 10.1016/j.isci.2026.116198 · PMID 42291205 · PMCID PMC13254849 · OpenAlex W7163163132
Open access: gold, a free copy (OpenAlex)
Status: code on request
Categories: cellular / molecular (subfield)
Methods: Statistics
Keywords: Zoology, Phylogenetics, Paleobiology, Paleogenetics
Topic: Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior (Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, Neuroscience), according to OpenAlex
Funding: Mudanjiang Science and Technology Bureau (XDHD25CR018); Heilongjiang Province Natural Science Foundation (ZD2022H007)
Citations: not cited yet (Europe PMC); 66 references in the paper
Research resources: GraphPad Prism 8.0 RRID:SCR_002798, ImageJ RRID:SCR_003070

Abstract

The mesolimbic dopamine system is central to cue-induced alcohol craving, but the role of D1 receptors (D1R) in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) remains unclear. Here, we show that cue-induced, but not context-elicited, alcohol seeking selectively upregulates NAc D1R protein expression in mice, which positively correlates with craving intensity. Systemic D1R antagonist SCH23390 suppresses cue-induced seeking and reverses c-Fos activation in the NAc and ventral pallidum. Chemogenetic inhibition of ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopamine neurons attenuates craving, an effect fully rescued by intra-NAc D1R agonist SKF38393 without affecting locomotion. These findings establish that dopaminergic projections from the VTA to the NAc drive cue-specific alcohol seeking through D1 receptor-dependent manner.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY-NC), from the paper cited above.

Code

The paper says that its authors' code is available on request: it was not published with the paper, so there is nothing to verify.

The paper's code and data availability statement is in the Data section.

Tracing map

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Data

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Data and code availability

The lead contact will share all data reported in this paper upon request.

This paper does not report original code.

Any additional information required to reanalyze the data reported in this paper is available from the lead contact upon request.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY-NC), from the paper cited above.

Versions

The history of this record: each version stored by the harvester or made by a correction of its authors or of the maintainers of its code, and what changed in its facts. The texts of the paper (its abstract, its availability statements) are not part of it; versions that changed only those are not listed.

Version 2, 28 September 2026

  • Authors: added Yanzhong Guan (0000-0001-5491-1115); removed Yanzhong Guan

Version 1, 27 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 14 authors, 4 keywords, 2 funders, 65 references, 2 RRIDs.

Cite

This paper

Xiong, J., Dou, M., Li, X., Zeng, T., Liu, Y., Dai, H., Du, C., Shi, X., Xu, X., Wang, X., Zhu, X., Wei, J., Cui, D., & Guan, Y. (2026). VTA dopamine inputs activate accumbal D1 receptors to promote alcohol seeking. iScience, 29(6), 116198. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2026.116198

BibTeX

@article{xiong2026vta,
author = {Xiong, Junwei and Dou, Mengyao and Li, Xinxin and Zeng, Ting and Liu, Yongliang and Dai, Huizhen and Du, Chenyu and Shi, Xiaowei and Xu, Xiangmin and Wang, Xiaofei and Zhu, Xiaofeng and Wei, Jianing and Cui, Dandan and Guan, Yanzhong},
title = {{VTA dopamine inputs activate accumbal D1 receptors to promote alcohol seeking}},
journal = {iScience},
year = {2026},
month = jun,
volume = {29},
number = {6},
pages = {116198},
publisher = {Elsevier},
issn = {2589-0042},
doi = {10.1016/j.isci.2026.116198},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2026.116198},
pmid = {42291205},
pmcid = {PMC13254849}
}

RIS

TY - JOUR
AU - Xiong, Junwei
AU - Dou, Mengyao
AU - Li, Xinxin
AU - Zeng, Ting
AU - Liu, Yongliang
AU - Dai, Huizhen
AU - Du, Chenyu
AU - Shi, Xiaowei
AU - Xu, Xiangmin
AU - Wang, Xiaofei
AU - Zhu, Xiaofeng
AU - Wei, Jianing
AU - Cui, Dandan
AU - Guan, Yanzhong
TI - VTA dopamine inputs activate accumbal D1 receptors to promote alcohol seeking
T2 - iScience
J2 - iScience
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/06/02
VL - 29
IS - 6
SP - 116198
SN - 2589-0042
PB - Elsevier
DO - 10.1016/j.isci.2026.116198
UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2026.116198
LA - en
ER -

CSL-JSON

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