DREADDS have been used in many animal models (e.g., mice and other non-primate animals) to target and influence the activity of various cells. Chemogenetics used in animals assists with demonstrating human disease models such as Parkinsons disease. Having this information allows scientists understand whether viral expression of DREADD proteins, both in-vivo enhancers and inhibitors of neuronal function can be used to bidirectionally affect the behaviors and the activity of the involved neurons. Recent studies have shown that DREADDs were successfully used to treat the motor deficits of rats modeling Parkinsons disease. Other studies have had successes linking the usage of DREADDs and influencing drug seeking and drug sensitization behavior.
The progression of chemogenetics from rodents to non-human primates has been slow due to increased demand in time and expense surrounding these projects. However, some recent studies in 2016 have been able to demonstrate successes showing that silencing the activity of neurons in the orbitofrontal cortex along with the removal of rhinal cortex, restricted the reward task performance in macaques.