Cited by 36Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on BehaviorNeuroscience and Neuropharmacology ResearchNeuropeptides and Animal Physiology

Astrocytes determine conditioned response to morphine via glucocorticoid receptor-dependent regulation of lactate release

Open access
Skupio, Urszula, Tertil, Magdalena, Bilecki, Wiktor, Barut, Justyna, Korostynski, Michal, Golda, Slawomir, Kudla, Lucja, Wiktorowska, Lucja +9 more·2020·Neuropsychopharmacology

Abstract

To date, neurons have been the primary focus of research on the role of glucocorticoids in the regulation of brain function and pathological behaviors, such as addiction. Astrocytes, which are also glucocorticoid-responsive, have been recently implicated in the development of drug abuse, albeit through as yet undefined mechanisms. Here, using a spectrum of tools (whole-transcriptome profiling, viral-mediated RNA interference in vitro and in vivo, behavioral pharmacology and electrophysiology), we demonstrate that astrocytes in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) are an important locus of glucocorticoid receptor (GR)-dependent transcriptional changes that regulate rewarding effects of morphine. Specifically, we show that targeted knockdown of the GR in the NAc astrocytes enhanced conditioned responses to morphine, with a concomitant inhibition of morphine-induced neuronal excitability and plasticity. Interestingly, GR knockdown did not influence sensitivity to cocaine. Further analyses revealed GR-dependent regulation of astroglial metabolism. Notably, GR knockdown inhibited induced by glucocorticoids lactate release in astrocytes. Finally, lactate administration outbalanced conditioned responses to morphine in astroglial GR knockdown mice. These findings demonstrate a role of GR-dependent regulation of astrocytic metabolism in the NAc and a key role of GR-expressing astrocytes in opioid reward processing.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1038/s41386-019-0450-4

Cites

63 of 63 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Astrocytes in the lateral habenula are involved in regulating depressive-like behavior, whereas the reward circuit is mediated by the striatum.

    “Astrocytes in the lateral habeula are involved in regulating depressive-like behavior, 74 whereas the reward circuit is mediated by the striatum. 75”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Sada N, Lee S, Katsu T, Otsuki T, Inoue T. Targeting LDH enzymes with a stir- ipentol analog to treat epilepsy. Science. 2015;347:1362-7.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Skupio, U., Tertil, M., Bilecki, W., Barut, J., Korostynski, M., Golda, S., Kudla, L., Wiktorowska, L., Sowa, J. E., Siwiec, M., Bobula, B., Pels, K., Tokarski, K., Hess, G., Ruszczycki, B., Wilczynski, G., & Przewlocki, R.
Affiliations
  • Maj Institute of Pharmacology (PL)
  • Instytut Biologii Doświadczalnej im. Marcelego Nenckiego (PL)
Venue
Neuropsychopharmacology
Published
2019-06-29
Volume
45
Issue
2
Pages
404-415
ISSN
  • 0893-133X (ISSN-L)
  • 1740-634X
OpenAlex
W2955245055
Cited by
36
References
62
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 1
FWCI
2.63
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Neuropsychopharmacology (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
Narodowe Centrum Nauki (2013/08/A/NZ3/00848)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuropeptides and Animal Physiology
Keywords
astrocytes, glucocorticoid receptor, morphine, conditioned place preference, nucleus accumbens, opioid reward, lactate release, neuronal excitability, neuroplasticity, cocaine, drug addiction
MeSH terms
Analgesics, Opioid, Animals, Astrocytes, Cells, Cultured, Conditioning, Psychological, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Mice, Transgenic, Morphine, Receptors, Glucocorticoid, Lactic Acid, Mice

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review