# Investigating the role of GPR162 in hedonic behaviors

> **NIH NIH R03** · UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND BALTIMORE COUNTY · 2021 · $145,877

## Abstract

Abstract
Pleasure or rewarding experiences serves as an adaptive process and are essential for healthy psychological
functioning. The ability to experience pleasure is attributed to an individual’s hedonic tone or the ‘liking’ of a
reward. Pathologically, low hedonic tone or anhedonia is the ability to experience pleasure, a key feature in
depression. Hedonic tone can be measured by the palatability towards food or liquids. Recently, GPR162 has
been implicated in hedonic food intake suggesting that this receptor contributes to reward-related behaviors by
setting hedonic tone. GPR162 is an orphan G protein coupled receptor (GPCR) as its endogenous ligand is
unknown and is an IDG eligible gene. The goal of this proposal is to identify the role of GPR162 towards hedonic
tone by measuring palatability using a natural reward (sucrose) and to further examine its contribution to other
aspects of reward including motivation and reinforcement. This project will use a viral mediated gene transfer
approach to either knockdown or overexpress GPR162 in the nucleus accumbens, a region known to mediate
reward-related behaviors. Finally, we will begin to address the signaling capabilities of GPR162. Our initial in
vitro findings show GPR162 activates the RhoA pathway. Here we will move this line of research into our mouse
models to gain a better understanding of GPR162 signaling. The results of this study will “illuminate” an
understudied protein by identifying the specific role of GPR162 in reward-related behaviors and by generating
reagents and data for the scientific community.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10215960
- **Project number:** 1R03DA054712-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND BALTIMORE COUNTY
- **Principal Investigator:** Laurie Sutton
- **Activity code:** R03 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $145,877
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-04-01 → 2023-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10215960

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10215960, Investigating the role of GPR162 in hedonic behaviors (1R03DA054712-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10215960. Licensed CC0.

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