{"title":"Sex differences in anxiety and depression: insights from adult rodent models of chronic stress and neural plasticity.","authors":"Rachel Bowman, Maya Frankfurt, Victoria Luine","doi":"10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1591973","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1591973","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The often co-morbid conditions of depression and anxiety are the most common mental illnesses and are more prevalent among females than males. Chronic stress paradigms in rodents serve as valuable preclinical models for investigating the factors contributing to these disorders and their neural underpinnings. A variety of chronic stressors are associated with the development of sexually differentiated effects on anxiety- and depressive-like responses in rodents. This review summarizes and discusses common behavioral tasks used to assess anxiety-like (e.g., elevated plus maze, open field) and depressive-like (e.g., sucrose preference, forced swim) behaviors in rodents and discusses evidence of sex differences in these responses. Preclinical chronic stress models also aid in identifying potential mechanisms underlying behavioral changes, including dendritic synaptic alterations in neural circuits affected by stress. Robust sex differences have been observed in stress-responsive brain regions such as the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, and amygdala. Therefore, applying chronic stress paradigms and assessing their neural effects in rodents may provide crucial insights into the biological basis of sexually differentiated mental illnesses in humans.</p>","PeriodicalId":12368,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience","volume":"19 ","pages":"1591973"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12116579/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144173368","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Robert Williams, Charlie Van Den Oord, Erica N Lee, Samuel C Fedde, Gia L Oscherwitz, Adema Ribic
{"title":"Critical period plasticity is associated with resilience to short unpredictable stress.","authors":"Robert Williams, Charlie Van Den Oord, Erica N Lee, Samuel C Fedde, Gia L Oscherwitz, Adema Ribic","doi":"10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1584240","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1584240","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Low resilience to stressful events can increase the risk of anxiety and depression. Resilience decreases with age, parallel to drastic changes in the quality of brain plasticity from juvenile to old age, suggesting that the type of plasticity found in the maturing brain promotes resilience. To indirectly test this, we administered short unpredictable stress to adult male and female wild type (WT) C57BL/6 mice, as well as to two groups of mice characterized by heightened cortical plasticity: adolescent C57BL/6 WT mice and adult mice that lack SynCAM 1 (Synaptic Cell Adhesion Molecule 1), a critical plasticity brake in the mature brain. We found that short unpredictable stress robustly increased core body temperature in all groups of mice, indicative of stress-induced hyperthermia (SIH) and confirming the efficacy of the stress paradigm. However, depressive-like behavior as measured though tail suspension test was increased in adult WT mice only, supporting that the type of plasticity found in the immature brains of adolescent WT and adult SynCAM 1 knockout (KO) mice promotes resilience to stress. All three groups of mice showed a mild increase in locomotor activity after stress, suggesting that the quality of plasticity does not correlate with resilience to anxiety-like phenotypes. Our study hence provides indirect evidence for the protective role of developmental plasticity during stress and points to new mechanisms that promote resilience to stress-induced depression.</p>","PeriodicalId":12368,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience","volume":"19 ","pages":"1584240"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12098557/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144141908","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Laura A Harrison, Antonio J Gracias, Karl J Friston, J Galen Buckwalter
{"title":"Resilience phenotypes derived from an active inference account of allostasis.","authors":"Laura A Harrison, Antonio J Gracias, Karl J Friston, J Galen Buckwalter","doi":"10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1524722","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1524722","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Within a theoretical framework of enactive allostasis, we explore active inference strategies for minimizing surprise to achieve resilience in dynamic environments. While individual differences and extrinsic protective factors traditionally account for variability in resilience trajectories following stressor exposure, the enactive model emphasizes the importance of the physical and social environment, specifically the \"enactive niche,\" which is both shaped by and impacts organisms living in it, accounting for variable success in allostatic prediction and accommodation. Enactive allostasis infers or predicts states of the world to minimize surprise and maintain regulation after surprise, i.e., resilience. Action policies are selected in accordance with the inferred state of a dynamic environment; those actions concurrently shape one's environment, buffering against current and potential stressors. Through such inferential construction, multiple potential solutions exist for achieving stability within one's enactive niche. Spanning a range of adaptive resilience strategies, we propose four phenotypes-fragile, durable, resilient, and pro-entropic (PE)-each characterized by a constellation of genetic, epigenetic, developmental, experiential, and environmental factors. Biological regulatory outcomes range from allostatic (over)load in the fragile and durable phenotypes, to allostatic recovery in resilience, and theoretically to increasing allostatic accommodation or \"growth\" in the proposed PE phenotype. Awareness distinguishes phenotypes by minimizing allostatically demanding surprise and engenders the cognitive and behavioral flexibility empirically associated with resilience. We further propose a role for awareness in proactively shaping one's enactive niche to further minimize surprise. We conclude by exploring the mechanisms of phenotypic plasticity which may bolster individual resilience.</p>","PeriodicalId":12368,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience","volume":"19 ","pages":"1524722"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12098587/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144141912","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jenthe Kwik, Tiny De Keuster, Tim Bosmans, José Mottet
{"title":"Detection of maladaptive pain in dogs referred for behavioral complaints: challenges and opportunities.","authors":"Jenthe Kwik, Tiny De Keuster, Tim Bosmans, José Mottet","doi":"10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1569351","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1569351","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Diagnosing maladaptive pain in dogs with behavioral complaints is challenging, as clinical signs are often non-specific and may be absent during examination. This paper supports veterinary teams in distinguishing behavioral changes that stem from a behavioral disorder, maladaptive pain, or both.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The medical records of ten client-owned dogs referred to the authors' behavioral practice were selected to identify challenges in recognizing maladaptive pain and to highlight diagnostic tools. A Toolbox approach was used for assessment, integrating caregiver questionnaires, medical history, home video analysis, clinical observation, and a timeline. Behavioral signs were categorized as green (adaptive) or red (maladaptive) flags to facilitate differential diagnosis and guide treatment decisions.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>All dogs (<i>n</i> = 10) were diagnosed with altered socioemotional functioning. In 7/10 cases, the Toolbox approach indicated maladaptive pain, confirmed by medical imaging in 3/7 cases. Multimodal treatment led to recovery in 6/7 dogs. In 3/10 dogs with behavioral histories, an acute worsening of signs suggested maladaptive pain, confirmed by imaging in all cases. Treatment led to partial recovery in 2/3 dogs, while one was euthanized due to neoplasia. Diagnostic challenges fell into three categories: bias in observation, clinical examination, and interpretation of behavioral signs.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Diagnosing maladaptive pain in dogs with behavioral problems requires a comprehensive approach. Recognizing red flags, using targeted diagnostic tools, and implementing multimodal treatment strategies can improve quality of life, reduce suffering, and enhance case management.</p>","PeriodicalId":12368,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience","volume":"19 ","pages":"1569351"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12095257/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144127075","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Fanglei Duan, Xiangyu Yan, Jing Wang, Zhenhua Wu, Yixin Zhang, QiCheng Shu, Fangfang Liu, Fan Xu, Qin Han
{"title":"Short-term memory retrieval enhances brain functional connectivity.","authors":"Fanglei Duan, Xiangyu Yan, Jing Wang, Zhenhua Wu, Yixin Zhang, QiCheng Shu, Fangfang Liu, Fan Xu, Qin Han","doi":"10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1578415","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1578415","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Short-term memory poses a significant challenge, involving complex processes of image perception, memory formation, and execution. However, the mechanisms underlying the formation, storage, and execution of short-term memory remain poorly understood.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>In this study, 41 healthy college students participated in a memory challenge test designed to investigate these processes. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was employed to measure dynamic changes in hemoglobin concentrations in specific cortical regions, while facial expressions and vital signs were recorded in real-time during the tests.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The results revealed heightened activity in the inferior prefrontal gyrus, visual association cortex, pre-motor cortex, and supplementary motor cortex. Functional connectivity between these regions was significantly enhanced during the tasks, and inter-group differences decreased over time. Participants with superior short-term memory exhibited lower levels of negative emotional expressions and higher heart rates compared to those with weaker memory performance. These findings suggest that cortical interconnectivity and adequate cerebral blood oxygenation play critical roles in enhancing short-term memory capacity. This has important implications for education, as it highlights strategies for cultivating attention, training memory skills, and improving memory integration abilities.</p>","PeriodicalId":12368,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience","volume":"19 ","pages":"1578415"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12075360/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144076919","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Luis Miguel Rodríguez-Serrano, Ana Paola López-Castillo, María Cristina Cabrera-Mejía, Ana Sofía Cedillo-Figueroa, Nyahn Zepeda-Ortigosa, Carolina Carregha-Lozano, María Elena Chávez-Hernández
{"title":"Coadministration antagonist dopamine receptor D4 with CB2 receptor agonist decreases binge-like intake of palatable food in mice.","authors":"Luis Miguel Rodríguez-Serrano, Ana Paola López-Castillo, María Cristina Cabrera-Mejía, Ana Sofía Cedillo-Figueroa, Nyahn Zepeda-Ortigosa, Carolina Carregha-Lozano, María Elena Chávez-Hernández","doi":"10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1572374","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1572374","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Food intake is regulated by two systems: homeostatic and hedonic. An imbalance between these systems can induce overconsumption, such as binge eating disorder (BED), and is associated with dysregulation of the dopamine reward system. The cannabinoid type 2 receptor (CB2R) has been identified in dopamine neurons and may play an important role in motivated behaviors, including food intake. Nevertheless, the interaction between the dopamine D4 (DRD4) receptor and CB2R in binge-like intake has not yet been identified. Therefore, the present study aims to evaluate the effects of intraperitoneal administration of DRD4 antagonist (L-745870), as well as the coadministration of DRD4 antagonist with either CB2R agonist (HU308) or antagonist (AM630), on binge-like intake of palatable food (PF) in adult male mice.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We used adult male 34 C57BL6/J mice. All animals were housed individually and had <i>ad libitum</i> access to standard diet (SD) and water. To evaluate binge-like intake, the animals had 1 h of access to PF during 12 baseline binge eating test (BET) sessions. Mice were then randomly assigned to the following treatment groups: 1) vehicle; 2) L-745870; 3) L-745870-HU308, 4) L-745870+AM630 to be evaluated under the effect of treatments for three additionally BET sessions.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Our results show that DRD4 antagonist reduced binge-like intake of PF, and that a coadministration with a CB2R agonist induced an even more pronounced reduction of binge-like intake.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>These findings suggest an interaction between the dopaminergic and endocannabinoid systems in the modulation of binge-like intake of PF in adult mice, where CB2R activation participates in modulating reward pathways and reducing binge-like behavior.</p>","PeriodicalId":12368,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience","volume":"19 ","pages":"1572374"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12069467/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143981975","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Maternal benzo[a]pyrene exposure during critical gestational periods impairs offspring neurological development in rats: a mechanistic study of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway.","authors":"Nan Zhang, Nan Bo, Yuanhao Wang, Wenlin Bai, Wen Sun, Zhenlin Zhao, Yuanbao Zhang, Yingying Zhang, Lijian Lei, Jianjun Zhou, Wenping Zhang","doi":"10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1571122","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1571122","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Mid-gestation is a critical period for the development of the nervous system. Exposure to exogenous harmful chemicals during this period may lead to longterm neurological developmental abnormalities in offspring. Benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P) is a commonly occurring neurotoxic environmental pollutant that can pass through the placental barrier and blood-brain barrier (BBB), thereby affecting placental nerve development.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>To investigate the neurotoxic mechanism of B[a]P on offspring exposed in mid-gestation, pregnant rats were exposed to B[a]P (25 mg/kg) from gestation days 8 to 14. Meanwhile, as an agonist of Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, lithium chloride (LiCl) was administered to observe the intervention effects.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The results showed that in rats exposed to B[a]P in mid-gestation, the developmental nodes of the offspring were delayed, and the neurosensory sensitivity of the offspring was reduced. These offspring also had cognitive impairments in adulthood. Subsequent morphological and protein experiments showed that the exposed offspring had reduced neuronal complexity in the CA1 region of the hippocampus, decreased β-catenin expression, and increased GSK-3β expression in the hippocampal tissue. However, all these indexes can be reversed by LiCl.</p><p><strong>Discussion: </strong>These results suggest that B[a]P exposed in mid-gestation pregnancy may lead to neurological damage in the offspring by downregulating the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway.</p>","PeriodicalId":12368,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience","volume":"19 ","pages":"1571122"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12058798/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143995298","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Meredith E Gamble, Michelle Montero, Dana N Silberstein, Terrence Deak, Elena I Varlinskaya, Marvin R Diaz
{"title":"Prenatal methadone exposure produces functional and molecular alterations in the basolateral amygdala and decreased voluntary ethanol intake in female, but not male offspring.","authors":"Meredith E Gamble, Michelle Montero, Dana N Silberstein, Terrence Deak, Elena I Varlinskaya, Marvin R Diaz","doi":"10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1570951","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1570951","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>A result of the ongoing opioid epidemic has been a significant rise in the rates of opioid use during pregnancy. This includes use of maintenance medications for opioid use disorder (MOUDs), such as methadone, which are the standard of care for pregnant people with an opioid use disorder (OUD). Although the use of MOUDs leads to better neonatal outcomes in exposed offspring compared to those born from individuals with untreated OUD, the pharmacology of MOUDs is similar to misused opioids. Despite the high prevalence of prenatal exposure to opioids, including MOUDs, our understanding of the long-term consequences of these exposures in offspring is limited. Prenatal drug exposure is known to be a risk factor for future substance use disorder and mood disorders, yet, how prenatal opioid exposure influences ethanol intake in adult offspring and associated affective behaviors has not been examined.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Using a rat model of prenatal methadone exposure (PME), which included twice daily methadone injections from gestational day 3-20, this study assessed ethanol intake in adult offspring and how exposure to forced swim stress (FSS) altered ethanol intake, in addition to examination of depressive-like behavior during the FSS. Given the role of the basolateral amygdala (BLA) in emotion and reward processing, we also conducted patch clamp electrophysiology experiments from BLA neurons to investigate changes in synaptic transmission and gene expression of neuromodulatory systems that are known to influence emotion and reward processing.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Females with a history of PME consumed less ethanol than control females, with no effects of PME on ethanol intake evident in males. While PME increased immobility during FSS in both males and females, FSS had no effects on ethanol intake. PME increased glutamate transmission and altered dopamine D1, D2, and D3 receptor and mu opioid receptor mRNA in the BLA of females, but not in males.</p><p><strong>Discussion: </strong>Collectively, this study identified impairments in emotion and reward processing, in addition to alterations in synaptic function and gene expression in the BLA of females with a history of PME, supporting previous findings from our lab demonstrating that female offspring are more sensitive to the long-term effects of PME.</p>","PeriodicalId":12368,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience","volume":"19 ","pages":"1570951"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12037550/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144001746","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Manatee cognition and behavior: a neurobiological perspective on an unusual constellation of senses and a unique brain.","authors":"Peter F Cook, Gordon B Bauer, Roger L Reep","doi":"10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1576378","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1576378","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The nervous systems of manatees are strikingly unique across multiple dimensions. Manatees have the largest lissencephalic (smooth) brains in the animal kingdom, and demonstrate unusual somatosensory anatomy and physiology in the peripheral and central nervous system. As a rare aquatic herbivore sharing ancestry with modern elephants, manatee evolutionary history and behavioral ecology diverges substantially from that of other marine mammal clades, and their nervous system has adapted to the specific challenges they face. Although they are difficult to access for controlled behavioral study, prior neurobiological work has provided insight into manatee cognition. Here we review the evidence on manatee peripheral and central nervous function and present novel preliminary post-mortem diffusion MRI findings on whole-brain patterns of connectivity. Compared to another marine mammal, the California sea lion, manatee brains show apparently reduced corticocortical complexity. This may help explain their lissencephaly and relate to hypothesized reduced radial glial cell activity during neurodevelopment. Despite this apparently \"simple\" brain, manatees in the wild show some cognitively sophisticated behaviors, particularly in the realm of navigation. Future work in manatees should examine local and global brain connectivity related to spatial navigation and other complex cognitive capabilities.</p>","PeriodicalId":12368,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience","volume":"19 ","pages":"1576378"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12021893/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143970884","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The role of dorsal raphe nucleus neuropeptides in reward and aversion.","authors":"Kathryn Braden, Daniel C Castro","doi":"10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1553470","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1553470","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The dorsal raphe nucleus is a critical node for affective and motivated circuits in the brain. Though typically known as a serotonergic hub, the dorsal raphe nucleus is also highly enriched in a variety of neuropeptides. Recent advances in biotechnology and behavioral modeling have led to a resurgence in neuropeptide research, allowing investigators to target unique peptide systems with unprecedented clarity. Here, we review and discuss multiple neuropeptide systems in dorsal raphe and consider how their activity may contribute to reward and aversion. While this is not an exhaustive review, this short overview will highlight the many opportunities available to refine our understanding of multiple dorsal raphe neuropeptides. By more thoroughly studying dorsal raphe neuropeptides, we will reveal novel pathways to design more effective therapeutics and tailor treatments for millions of patients.</p>","PeriodicalId":12368,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience","volume":"19 ","pages":"1553470"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12014661/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143974788","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}