Rainer Spanagel

31.3k total citations · 3 hit papers
340 papers, 19.8k citations indexed

About

Rainer Spanagel is a scholar working on Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, Molecular Biology and Physiology. According to data from OpenAlex, Rainer Spanagel has authored 340 papers receiving a total of 19.8k indexed citations (citations by other indexed papers that have themselves been cited), including 229 papers in Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, 132 papers in Molecular Biology and 54 papers in Physiology. Recurrent topics in Rainer Spanagel's work include Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior (185 papers), Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research (104 papers) and Receptor Mechanisms and Signaling (82 papers). Rainer Spanagel is often cited by papers focused on Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior (185 papers), Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research (104 papers) and Receptor Mechanisms and Signaling (82 papers). Rainer Spanagel collaborates with scholars based in Germany, United States and United Kingdom. Rainer Spanagel's co-authors include Toni S. Shippenberg, Valentina Vengeliene, Sabine M. Hölter, Carles Sanchis‐Segura, Friedbert Weiss, Ainhoa Bilbao, A. Herz, W. Zieglgänsberger, Hamid R. Noori and Albert Herz and has published in prestigious journals such as Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and The Lancet.

In The Last Decade

Rainer Spanagel

332 papers receiving 19.4k citations

Hit Papers

align trajectories

What are hit papers?

Hit papers significantly outperform the citation benchmark for their cohort. A paper qualifies if it has ≥500 total citations, achieves ≥1.5× the top-1% citation threshold for papers in the same subfield and year (this is the minimum needed to enter the top 1%, not the average within it), or reaches the top citation threshold in at least one of its specific research topics.

Opposing tonically active endogenous opioid systems modulate the mesolimbic dopaminergic pathway.

1992 825 citations Rainer Spanagel et al. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences profile →
The dopamine hypothesis of reward: past and current status

1999 770 citations Rainer Spanagel et al. profile →
Impaired stress response and reduced anxiety in mice lacking a functional corticotropin-releasing hormone receptor 1

1998 750 citations Rainer Spanagel et al. profile →

Peers — A (Enhanced Table)

Peers by citation overlap · career bar shows stage (early→late) cites · hero ref

Name	h						Papers	Cites
Rainer Spanagel Germany	74	12.1k	5.9k	3.9k	3.2k	2.7k	340	19.8k
Harry W.M. Steinbusch Netherlands	76	9.9k 0.8×	7.3k 1.2×	3.1k 0.8×	2.7k 0.8×	4.6k 1.7×	388	22.8k
Friedbert Weiss United States	65	10.6k 0.9×	5.4k 0.9×	3.4k 0.9×	2.3k 0.7×	1.5k 0.6×	145	14.3k
Jane Stewart Canada	69	13.4k 1.1×	5.5k 0.9×	5.4k 1.4×	3.9k 1.2×	2.5k 0.9×	227	20.0k
John C. Crabbe United States	73	12.3k 1.0×	7.4k 1.3×	3.1k 0.8×	2.6k 0.8×	4.1k 1.5×	375	20.9k
William A. Carlezon United States	71	11.1k 0.9×	6.3k 1.1×	4.2k 1.1×	2.7k 0.8×	2.1k 0.8×	205	17.2k
Gian Luigi Gessa Italy	80	14.3k 1.2×	5.7k 1.0×	3.5k 0.9×	1.6k 0.5×	2.4k 0.9×	484	22.9k
George R. Breese United States	71	10.8k 0.9×	6.0k 1.0×	2.5k 0.6×	2.4k 0.8×	2.2k 0.8×	338	18.3k
Yavin Shaham United States	98	22.2k 1.8×	8.8k 1.5×	9.3k 2.4×	5.4k 1.7×	2.9k 1.1×	252	28.4k
Mark J. Millan France	70	10.4k 0.9×	7.0k 1.2×	2.7k 0.7×	1.5k 0.5×	5.0k 1.9×	284	19.3k
Ralph Dileone United States	55	5.4k 0.4×	3.5k 0.6×	3.1k 0.8×	2.5k 0.8×	2.1k 0.8×	101	13.9k

Countries citing papers authored by Rainer Spanagel

Since Specialization

Citations

This map shows the geographic impact of Rainer Spanagel's research. It shows the number of citations coming from papers published by authors working in each country. You can also color the map by specialization and compare the number of citations received by Rainer Spanagel with the expected number of citations based on a country's size and research output (numbers larger than one mean the country cites Rainer Spanagel more than expected).

Fields of papers citing papers by Rainer Spanagel

Since Specialization

Physical SciencesHealth SciencesLife SciencesSocial Sciences

This network shows the impact of papers produced by Rainer Spanagel. Nodes represent research fields, and links connect fields that are likely to share authors. Colored nodes show fields that tend to cite the papers produced by Rainer Spanagel. The network helps show where Rainer Spanagel may publish in the future.

Co-authorship network of co-authors of Rainer Spanagel

This figure shows the co-authorship network connecting the top 25 collaborators of Rainer Spanagel. A scholar is included among the top collaborators of Rainer Spanagel based on the total number of citations received by their joint publications. Widths of edges represent the number of papers authors have co-authored together. Node borders signify the number of papers an author published with Rainer Spanagel. Rainer Spanagel is excluded from the visualization to improve readability, since they are connected to all nodes in the network.

All Works

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20 of 20 papers shown

Doñamayor, Nuria, Rainer Spanagel, Andreas Heinz, et al.. (2025). Goal-directed behavior and hippocampal activity predict real-life impact of drinking intentions in alcohol use disorder. Translational Psychiatry. 15(1). 425–425. 1 indexed citations

White, Julie D., Bryan C. Quach, Shizhong Han, et al.. (2024). Alcohol Use Disorder–Associated DNA Methylation in the Nucleus Accumbens and Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex. Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science. 4(6). 100375–100375. 1 indexed citations

Spanagel, Rainer, et al.. (2024). Conditional deletion of the AMPA-GluA1 and NMDA-GluN1 receptor subunit genes in midbrain D1 neurons does not alter cocaine reward in mice. Neuropharmacology. 258. 110081–110081.

Zillich, Lea, Ammar Jabali, Ana M. Oliveira, et al.. (2024). Cell type-specific multi-omics analysis of cocaine use disorder in the human caudate nucleus. Neuroscience Applied. 3. 105220–105220. 1 indexed citations

Foo, Jerome C., Fabian Streit, Josef Frank, et al.. (2024). Polygenic risk scores for nicotine use and family history of smoking are associated with smoking behaviour. Drug and Alcohol Dependence. 263. 112415–112415.

Martínez‐Magaña, José Jaime, Josef Frank, Naguib Mechawar, et al.. (2024). Multi-omics profiling of DNA methylation and gene expression alterations in human cocaine use disorder. Translational Psychiatry. 14(1). 428–428. 2 indexed citations

Afanasenkau, Dzmitry, et al.. (2023). EVALUATING THE NEUROPHYSIOLOGICAL SIGNATURES OF DIFFERENT ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION PATTERNS WITH EPICORTICAL NEUROPROSTHETICS. IBRO Neuroscience Reports. 15. S576–S576. 1 indexed citations

Pfeiffer, Natascha, et al.. (2023). Psilocybin does not induce the vulnerability marker HSP70 in neurons susceptible to Olney’s lesions. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience. 274(4). 1013–1019. 2 indexed citations

Zillich, Lea, Josef Frank, Jerome C. Foo, et al.. (2022). Multi-omics signatures of alcohol use disorder in the dorsal and ventral striatum. Translational Psychiatry. 12(1). 190–190. 16 indexed citations

10.

Knabbe, Johannes, Michael L. Berger, Dominik Dannehl, et al.. (2022). Single-dose ethanol intoxication causes acute and lasting neuronal changes in the brain. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 119(25). e2122477119–e2122477119. 15 indexed citations

11.

Zillich, Lea, Josef Frank, Fabian Streit, et al.. (2021). Epigenome-wide association study of alcohol use disorder in five brain regions. Neuropsychopharmacology. 47(4). 832–839. 20 indexed citations

12.

Spanagel, Rainer, et al.. (2019). No basal or drug‐induced sex differences in striatal dopaminergic levels: a cluster and meta‐analysis of rat microdialysis studies. Journal of Neurochemistry. 152(4). 482–492. 20 indexed citations

13.

Pfarr, Simone, Elisabeth Paul, Frank Herrmannsdörfer, et al.. (2018). Choice for Drug or Natural Reward Engages Largely Overlapping Neuronal Ensembles in the Infralimbic Prefrontal Cortex. Journal of Neuroscience. 38(14). 3507–3519. 45 indexed citations

14.

Vengeliene, Valentina, Anton Bespalov, Sandra Horschitz, et al.. (2017). Towards trans-diagnostic mechanisms in psychiatry: Neurobehavioral profile of rats with a loss of function point mutation in the dopamine transporter gene. Disease Models & Mechanisms. 10(4). 451–461. 24 indexed citations

15.

Noori, Hamid R., et al.. (2017). A multiscale cerebral neurochemical connectome of the rat brain. PLoS Biology. 15(7). e2002612–e2002612. 33 indexed citations

16.

Foo, Jerome C., Hamid R. Noori, Valentina Vengeliene, et al.. (2017). Dynamical state transitions into addictive behaviour and their early-warning signals. Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences. 284(1860). 20170882–20170882. 11 indexed citations

17.

Fritze, Stefan, Rainer Spanagel, & Hamid R. Noori. (2017). Adaptive dynamics of the 5‐HTsystems following chronic administration of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors: a meta‐analysis. Journal of Neurochemistry. 142(5). 747–755. 28 indexed citations

18.

Schneider, Miriam, Fernando Kasanetz, Diane L. Lynch, et al.. (2015). Enhanced Functional Activity of the Cannabinoid Type-1 Receptor Mediates Adolescent Behavior. Journal of Neuroscience. 35(41). 13975–13988. 41 indexed citations

19.

Körkel, Joachim, Michael Soyka, M. Bottlender, & Rainer Spanagel. (2005). For and Against: Controlled Drinking as Useful and Necessary Treatment Alternative. Psychiatrische Praxis. 32(7). 324–326. 1 indexed citations

20.

Zieglgänsberger, W., Charlotte A. E. Hauser, Jörg Putzke, & Rainer Spanagel. (1995). The enhanced excitability of central neurons following chronic alcohol intake is reduced by Acamprosate. Pharmacopsychiatry. 28. 231–231. 8 indexed citations

Rankless uses publication and citation data sourced from OpenAlex, an open and comprehensive bibliographic database. While OpenAlex provides broad and valuable coverage of the global research landscape, it—like all bibliographic datasets—has inherent limitations. These include incomplete records, variations in author disambiguation, differences in journal indexing, and delays in data updates. As a result, some metrics and network relationships displayed in Rankless may not fully capture the entirety of a scholar's output or impact.

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