Touch neurons underlying dopaminergic pleasurable touch and sexual receptivity
Open accessAbstract
Pleasurable touch is paramount during social behavior, including sexual encounters. However, the identity and precise role of sensory neurons that transduce sexual touch remain unknown. A population of sensory neurons labeled by developmental expression of the G protein-coupled receptor Mrgprb4 detects mechanical stimulation in mice. Here, we study the social relevance of Mrgprb4-lineage neurons and reveal that these neurons are required for sexual receptivity and sufficient to induce dopamine release in the brain. Even in social isolation, optogenetic stimulation of Mrgprb4-lineage neurons through the back skin is sufficient to induce a conditioned place preference and a striking dorsiflexion resembling the lordotic copulatory posture. In the absence of Mrgprb4-lineage neurons, female mice no longer find male mounts rewarding: sexual receptivity is supplanted by aggression and a coincident decline in dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens. Together, these findings establish that Mrgprb4-lineage neurons initiate a skin-to-brain circuit encoding the rewarding quality of social touch.
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Social touch leads to the release of oxytocin from the paraventricular nucleus and dopamine from the ventral tegmental area to the nucleus accumbens, resulting in conditioned place preference for social touch contexts.
“Social touch also leads to the release of OT, from the PVN, and DA, from the VTA, to the NAc, resulting in conditioned place preference for social touch contexts and suggesting reinforcing properties of social tactile stimulation [95,96].”
From The Neurobiology of Love and Pair Bonding from Human and Animal Perspectives (2023) · cites this paper as [96]
The Introduction describes VTA neurons releasing dopamine into the nucleus accumbens, and the Abstract reports that stimulating touch-sensitive neurons in mice induced dopamine release and conditioned place preference. The paper does not report oxytocin release from the paraventricular nucleus; its place-preference experiment used optogenetic stimulation of back-skin neurons rather than social touch itself. (LLM, conf=0.88)
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Haptic Perception and Its Relation to Action
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Mechanosensation in leaf veins
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A hypothalamic node for the cyclical control of female sexual rejection
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A circuit that integrates drive state and social contact to gate mating
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Mind-body practices in chronic inflammatory arthritis
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Krause corpuscles of the genitalia are vibrotactile sensors required for normal sexual behaviorPreprint
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MrgprC11+ Jugular Neurons Control Airway Hyperresponsiveness in Allergic Airway Inflammation
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Rodent models for mood disorders – understanding molecular changes by investigating social behavior
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Oxytocin Modulation of Spinal Circuits Drives Therapeutic Benefits of MassagePreprint
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Poststress social isolation exerts anxiolytic effects by activating the ventral dentate gyrus
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C-LTMRs mediate wet dog shakes via the spinoparabrachial pathwayPreprint
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Ready or not: Neural mechanisms regulating female sexual behavior
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Social stress and affiliative touch: A tale of two affective states
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Mrgprb4-lineage neurons indispensable in pressure induced pleasant sensation are polymodal
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Trauma and Sensory Systems: Biological Mechanisms Involving the Skin and the 17q21 Gene Cluster
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Ontogeny of tactile, vocal and kinship dynamics in rat pup huddling
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Chronic pain mediated changes in the appetitive value of affective gentle touch in micePreprint
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Merkel cell stimulation in fear and sensory signaling
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Neural Circuits of Social and Physiological Needs
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Identification of a Neuroimmune Circuit that Regulates Allergic Inflammation in the EsophagusPreprint
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Social Touch Suppresses Aggression via Thalamic MechanismsPreprint
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Community Newsletter: Better measurement; Rett rescue; interactomes; social touch
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Socio-sexual touch: On the hunt for a pleasure signal in the mouse brain
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Les pratiques psychocorporelles (ou mind-body) dans les rhumatismes inflammatoires chroniques
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Understanding Child Abuse and Neglect - Research and Implications
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- Authors
- Elias, L. J., Succi, I. K., Schaffler, M. D., Foster, W., Gradwell, M. A., Bohic, M., Fushiki, A., Upadhyay, A., Ejoh, L. L., Schwark, R., Frazer, R., Bistis, B., Burke, J. E., Saltz, V., Boyce, J. E., Jhumka, A., Costa, R. M., Abraira, V. E., & Abdus-Saboor, I.
- Affiliations
- Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute (US)
- Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (US)
- University of Pennsylvania (US)
- Corresponding author
- Abdus-Saboor, Ishmail
- ORCID
- Venue
- Cell
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2023-02
- Volume
- 186
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 577-590.e16
- ISSN
- 0092-8674 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC9898224
- OpenAlex
- W4318026021
- Cited by
- 85
- References
- 71
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 25 · 2023: 29 · 2022: 1
- FWCI
- 15.55
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Cell (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Rita Allen Foundation
- National Institutes of Health (R01, K99/R00)
- Brain Research Foundation
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
- Brain and Behavior Research Foundation
- Whitehall Foundation
- Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
- Alfred P Sloan Foundation
- PEW Charitable Trusts
- National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression
- National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Sensory Systems › Ion Channels and Receptors
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Tactile and Sensory Interactions
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Keywords
- sexual receptivity, sensory neurons, dopamine release, nucleus accumbens, social touch, conditioned place preference, aggression, reward, optogenetics, G protein-coupled receptors
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Dopamine, Female, Male, Nucleus Accumbens, Sensory Receptor Cells, Reward, Skin, Touch, Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled, Mice, Dopaminergic Neurons, Optogenetics
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