Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40993487›Full record

ArticleCognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience2026

Dopamine antagonist effects of the D2/D3 receptor partial agonist aripiprazole on effort-based choice tasks in male and female rats.

Gayle A Edelstein, Alev Ecevitoglu, Matthew Mitola, Alexandra Goldhamer, Kathryn Beard, Aastha Gupta, Grace Vaidian, Abigail Rochette, Samantha Esposito, Andrea Martinez-Verdu and 4 more

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Article in Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

14 authors.

Gayle A EdelsteinDepartment of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA.
Alev EcevitogluDepartment of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA.
Matthew MitolaDepartment of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA.
Alexandra GoldhamerDepartment of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA.
Kathryn BeardDepartment of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA.
Aastha GuptaDepartment of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA.
Grace VaidianDepartment of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA.
Abigail RochetteDepartment of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA.
Samantha EspositoDepartment of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA.
Andrea Martinez-VerduDepartment of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA.
Regulo Olivares-GarciaDepartment of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA.
Paula Matas-NavarroDepartment of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA.
Merce CorreaDepartment of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA.
John D SalamoneDepartment of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA. john.salamone@uconn.edu.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Dopamine (DA) D2 receptor family partial agonists, such as aripiprazole (Abilify), are third-generation antipsychotic drugs approved for treating schizophrenia, and as augmentation agents in depression. Partial agonists induce moderate-to-low levels of intrinsic activity at receptors and thus can have agonist or antagonist properties, depending on neurotransmitter tone and other factors. Previous research has shown that D2 receptor antagonists, such as haloperidol and eticlopride, produce a low-effort bias in rodents tested on effort-based choice. The present studies were undertaken to determine whether aripiprazole would produce effects that resemble D2 antagonists or alternatively would show signs of agonist activity when DA tone was low. Male and female Sprague-Dawley rats were tested across multiple effort-based choice tasks that offered rats the option of lever pressing for high-carbohydrate food pellets on fixed or progressive ratio schedules vs. approaching and consuming concurrently available laboratory chow. Similar to D2 receptor antagonists, aripiprazole (0.65-5 mg/kg IP) produced a low-effort bias, decreasing lever pressing and increasing chow intake. These shifts in choice behavior occurred at low doses that were not marked by decreases in food intake or preference in parallel free-feeding preference tests. Furthermore, when DA tone was reduced by administration of the DA storage inhibitor tetrabenazine, aripiprazole did not increase lever pressing, instead producing a further decrease in male rats. Overall, aripiprazole was more potent in male rats compared with female rats. Aripiprazole also increased c-Fos immunoreactivity in nucleus accumbens. These results indicate that aripiprazole acts as a D2 family functional antagonist on rat models of effort-based choice.

Indexed as

Antipsychotic AgentsChoice BehaviorDopamine AntagonistsDopamine D2 Receptor AntagonistsPiperazinesQuinolonesReceptors, Dopamine D3AnimalsAripiprazoleConditioning, OperantDopamine AgonistsDose-Response Relationship, DrugFemaleMaleRatsRats, Sprague-DawleyAntipsychotic AgentsAripiprazoleDopamine AgonistsDopamine AntagonistsDopamine D2 Receptor AntagonistsPiperazinesQuinolonesReceptors, Dopamine D2Receptors, Dopamine D3AntipsychoticApathyAvolitionDecision makingMotivationSchizophrenia

Identifiers

PMID40993487

What Socratic holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.