Opioidergic modulation of monetary incentive delay fMRI responses
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Rationale
It is hypothesised that modulation of striatal dopaminergic signalling plays a key role in the rewarding effects of opioids. The monetary incentive delay (MID) task is a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigm used to investigate striatal responses, which may reflect striatal dopamine release, during the anticipation of a financial reward.
Objectives
We hypothesised that fentanyl would modulate striatal MID task Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent (BOLD) responses, reflecting opioidergic modulation of striatal dopaminergic signalling.
Methods
24 right-handed males who undertook four MRI scanning sessions, during which they completed an MID task 15 min after receiving an intravenous infusion of either one of two doses of fentanyl (50 µg/70kg), naloxone (400 µg) or placebo (saline 0.9%), were included in the analyses. End tidal CO2 data were collected to control for respiratory depression.
Results
We demonstrated fentanyl induced increases in MID task reward and loss anticipation BOLD compared with placebo and naloxone in both region of interest (ROI) and whole brain analyses. These results were in cortical regions including the lingual gyrus, precuneus, posterior cingulate and frontal pole rather than the striatum.
Conclusions
Our results show the primary effects of fentanyl on MID anticipation BOLD in regions associated with the preparation of a motor response to a salient visual cue, rather than in regions typically associated with reward processing such as the striatum. This suggests that opioid agonists do not affect striatal activation during the MID task. Tasks using naturalistic rewards, for example feeding, sex or social contact which induce endogenous opioid signalling, may be more appropriate to probe the effects of fentanyl on reward processing. These results are from male participants’ data and therefore may not be generalisable to female participants.
It is hypothesised that modulation of striatal dopaminergic signalling plays a key role in the rewarding effects of opioids. The monetary incentive delay (MID) task is a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigm used to investigate striatal responses, which may reflect striatal dopamine release, during the anticipation of a financial reward.
Objectives
We hypothesised that fentanyl would modulate striatal MID task Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent (BOLD) responses, reflecting opioidergic modulation of striatal dopaminergic signalling.
Methods
24 right-handed males who undertook four MRI scanning sessions, during which they completed an MID task 15 min after receiving an intravenous infusion of either one of two doses of fentanyl (50 µg/70kg), naloxone (400 µg) or placebo (saline 0.9%), were included in the analyses. End tidal CO2 data were collected to control for respiratory depression.
Results
We demonstrated fentanyl induced increases in MID task reward and loss anticipation BOLD compared with placebo and naloxone in both region of interest (ROI) and whole brain analyses. These results were in cortical regions including the lingual gyrus, precuneus, posterior cingulate and frontal pole rather than the striatum.
Conclusions
Our results show the primary effects of fentanyl on MID anticipation BOLD in regions associated with the preparation of a motor response to a salient visual cue, rather than in regions typically associated with reward processing such as the striatum. This suggests that opioid agonists do not affect striatal activation during the MID task. Tasks using naturalistic rewards, for example feeding, sex or social contact which induce endogenous opioid signalling, may be more appropriate to probe the effects of fentanyl on reward processing. These results are from male participants’ data and therefore may not be generalisable to female participants.
Date Issued
2025-08-01
Date Acceptance
2025-01-24
Citation
Psychopharmacology, 2025, 242 (8), pp.1743-1756
ISSN
0033-3158
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Start Page
1743
End Page
1756
Journal / Book Title
Psychopharmacology
Volume
242
Issue
8
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2025 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
License URL
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/40053107
PII: 10.1007/s00213-025-06753-7
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
Germany
Date Publish Online
2025-02-12