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Lutz JA, Childs E. Alcohol conditioned contexts enhance positive subjective alcohol effects and consumption. Behav Processes 2021; 187:104340. [PMID: 33545315 DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2021.104340] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2020] [Revised: 06/15/2020] [Accepted: 01/26/2021] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
Associations between alcohol and the places it is consumed are important at all stages of alcohol abuse and addiction. However, it is not clear how the associations are formed in humans or how they influence drinking, and there are few effective strategies to prevent their pathological effects on alcohol use. We used a human laboratory model to study the effects of alcohol environments on alcohol consumption. Healthy regular binge drinkers completed conditioned place preference (CPP) with 0 vs. 80 mg/100 mL alcohol (Paired Group). Control participants (Unpaired Group) completed sessions without explicit alcohol-room pairings. After conditioning, participants completed alcohol self-administration in either the alcohol- or no alcohol-paired room. Paired group participants reported greater subjective stimulation and euphoria, and consumed more alcohol in the alcohol-paired room in comparison to the no alcohol-paired room, and controls tested in either room. Moreover, the strength of conditioning significantly predicted drinking; participants who exhibited the strongest CPP consumed the most alcohol in the alcohol-paired room. This is the first empirical evidence that laboratory-conditioned alcohol environments directly influence drinking. The results also confirm the viability of the model to examine the mechanisms by which alcohol environments stimulate drinking and to test strategies to counteract their influence on behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph A Lutz
- University of Illinois at Chicago, Department of Psychiatry, 1601 W Taylor St MC912, Chicago, IL, 60612, USA
| | - Emma Childs
- University of Illinois at Chicago, Department of Psychiatry, 1601 W Taylor St MC912, Chicago, IL, 60612, USA; University of Chicago, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, 5841 S. Maryland Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA.
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Smith ML, Li J, Ryabinin AE. Increased alcohol consumption in urocortin 3 knockout mice is unaffected by chronic inflammatory pain. Alcohol Alcohol 2014; 50:132-9. [PMID: 25451237 DOI: 10.1093/alcalc/agu084] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
AIMS Stress neurocircuitry may modulate the relationship between alcohol drinking and chronic pain. The corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) system is crucial for regulation of stress responses. The current study aimed to elucidate the role of the endogenous CRF ligand Urocortin 3 (Ucn3) in the relationship between alcohol drinking behavior and chronic pain using a genetic approach. METHODS Ucn3 (KO) and wildtype (WT) littermates were subjected to a 24-h access drinking procedure prior to and following induction of chronic inflammatory pain. RESULTS Ucn3 KO mice displayed significantly increased ethanol intake and preference compared with WT across the time course. There were no long-term effects of chronic pain on alcohol drinking behavior, regardless of genotype, nor any evidence for alcohol-induced analgesia. CONCLUSION The increased drinking in Ucn3 KO supports a role for this peptide in alcohol-related behavior. These data suggest the necessity for more research exploring the relationship between alcohol drinking, chronic pain and the CRF system in rodent models.
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Affiliation(s)
- Monique L Smith
- Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health & Science University, 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Road L470, Portland, OR 97239-3098, USA
| | - Ju Li
- Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health & Science University, 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Road L470, Portland, OR 97239-3098, USA
| | - Andrey E Ryabinin
- Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health & Science University, 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Road L470, Portland, OR 97239-3098, USA
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Childs E, de Wit H. Contextual conditioning enhances the psychostimulant and incentive properties of d-amphetamine in humans. Addict Biol 2013; 18:985-92. [PMID: 22129527 DOI: 10.1111/j.1369-1600.2011.00416.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Learned associations between drugs and the places they are used are critical to the development of drug addiction. Contextual conditioning has long been studied in animals as an indirect measure of drug reward, but little is known about the process in humans. Here, we investigated de novo contextual conditioning with d-amphetamine in healthy humans (n = 34). Volunteers underwent four conditioning sessions conducted in two testing rooms with double-blind, alternating d-amphetamine (20 mg) and placebo administration. Before conditioning procedures began, they rated the two rooms to examine pre-existing preferences. One group (Paired, n = 19) always received d-amphetamine in their least preferred room and placebo in the other during conditioning sessions. Another group (Unpaired, n = 15) received d-amphetamine and placebo in both rooms. Subjective drug effects were monitored at repeated times. At a separate re-exposure test, preference ratings for the drug-associated room were increased among the Paired group only, and more subjects in the Paired than the Unpaired group switched their preference to their initially least preferred room. Also, ratings of d-amphetamine drug liking independently predicted room liking at test among the Paired group only. Further, Paired group subjects reported greater stimulation and drug craving after d-amphetamine on the second administration, relative to the first. This study supports preliminary findings that humans, like animals, develop a preference for a place associated with d-amphetamine that is related to its subjective effects. These findings also suggest that experiencing d-amphetamine in a consistent environment produces context-dependent changes in its subjective effects, including an enhanced rewarding efficacy and abuse potential.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emma Childs
- The University of Chicago, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Chicago, IL, USA
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Alcohol dependence as a chronic pain disorder. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2012; 36:2179-92. [PMID: 22975446 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2012.07.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 236] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2012] [Revised: 06/18/2012] [Accepted: 07/16/2012] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Abstract
Dysregulation of pain neurocircuitry and neurochemistry has been increasingly recognized as playing a critical role in a diverse spectrum of diseases including migraine, fibromyalgia, depression, and PTSD. Evidence presented here supports the hypothesis that alcohol dependence is among the pathologies arising from aberrant neurobiological substrates of pain. In this review, we explore the possible influence of alcohol analgesia and hyperalgesia in promoting alcohol misuse and dependence. We examine evidence that neuroanatomical sites involved in the negative emotional states of alcohol dependence also play an important role in pain transmission and may be functionally altered under chronic pain conditions. We also consider possible genetic links between pain transmission and alcohol dependence. We propose an allostatic load model in which episodes of alcohol intoxication and withdrawal, traumatic stressors, and injury are each capable of dysregulating an overlapping set of neural substrates to engender sensory and affective pain states that are integral to alcohol dependence and comorbid conditions such as anxiety, depression, and chronic pain.
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De Witte P. Imbalance between neuroexcitatory and neuroinhibitory amino acids causes craving for ethanol. Addict Behav 2004; 29:1325-39. [PMID: 15345268 DOI: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2004.06.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 72] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Long-term exposure to ethanol leads to an imbalance in different excitatory and inhibitory amino acids. When ethanol consumption is reduced or completely stopped, these imbalances in different amino acids and neurotransmitters are behaviorally expressed in the form of ethanol withdrawal. Glutamate, a major excitatory amino acid, and GABA, a major inhibitory amino acid, are responsible, at least partly, for ethanol withdrawal symptoms. The hypofunction of GABAA receptors and enhanced function of NMDA receptors are suggested to be responsible for the increase in the behavioral susceptibility during ethanol withdrawal. This imbalance between receptors may be exacerbated by repeated withdrawal. Because multiple and repeated periods of chronic ethanol consumption and withdrawal often occur in alcohol abusers, animal studies on the neurochemical changes in different amino acids following chronic ethanol treatment (CET) that is interrupted by repeated ethanol withdrawal episodes may be of clinical relevance for the development of treatment strategies. Brain glutamate increases during the first cycle of ethanol withdrawal, and this increase is much higher during the third cycle of ethanol withdrawal. The elevated glutamate released in the hippocampus during the first cycle of ethanol withdrawal episode was exacerbated in subsequent withdrawal episodes. Acamprosate, a drug used during human alcohol detoxification, is able to completely block the glutamate increase observed during the first as well as the third withdrawal of ethanol. In ethanol-naïve rats, there was no change in the glutamate microdialysate content after an acute ethanol injection. However, when repeated ethanol injections were cued with a vinegar stimulus that had previously been associated with the same ethanol injection, a significant increase in glutamate microdialysate content was assayed. Furthermore, when the cue was omitted, the ethanol injection induced no changes in glutamate microdialysate content in rats that had been previously ethanol conditioned. By comparison, a saline injection had no effect on extracellular glutamate concentration in rats naïve for ethanol as well as in rats daily administered with repeated ethanol injections that were not paired with the cue. It appears probable that these conditioned responses by extracellular glutamate concentrations may participate in the environmental cue-induced conditioned cravings for ethanol that are thought to be related to the high frequency of relapse in detoxified alcoholics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philippe De Witte
- UCL-Biologie du Comportement, Place Croix du Sud, 1-bte 10-B 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
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Tirelli E, Jodogne C, Legros JJ. Oxytocin blocks the environmentally conditioned compensatory response present after tolerance to ethanol-induced hypothermia in mice. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 1993; 43:1263-7. [PMID: 1361994 DOI: 10.1016/0091-3057(92)90512-e] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
The present study tested the hypothesis that the attenuation by oxytocin of tolerance to ethanol-induced hypothermia relies upon an impairment of the putative conditioning processes underlying environment-specific tolerance. According to the conditioning model of tolerance, such tolerance occurs because an opposite compensatory response conditioned to ethanol-paired cues attenuates ethanol's effects. Tolerance to ethanol-induced hypothermia was established to a particular environment over 4 days by injecting mice (daily) with oxytocin 2 h before ethanol, outside the colony room. As controls, other mice were injected similarly but following testing in the animal room. We found that oxytocin suppressed the conditioned compensatory response, revealed by injecting saline to every group in the tolerance-associated environment. These results suggest that oxytocin acted, at least partly, via an inhibition of the associative learning processes that facilitate tolerance development.
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Affiliation(s)
- E Tirelli
- Laboratoire de Psychologie Expérimentale, Université de Liége au Sart Tilman, Belgium
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Lê AD, Mana M, Quan B, Kalant H. Differential development of acute tolerance to the motor impairment and anticonvulsant effects of ethanol. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 1992; 109:107-11. [PMID: 1365642 DOI: 10.1007/bf02245487] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
The development of acute tolerance to the motor impairment and anticonvulsant effects of ethanol was examined. Acute tolerance to the motor impairment effect of ethanol was shown by a decrease in the degree of intoxication, as measured on the moving belt task, at higher blood ethanol levels ranging from 206 to 256 mg/dl. There was no evidence of acute tolerance to the anticonvulsant effect of ethanol in rats tested over the same time period. These results indicate that, like chronic tolerance, acute tolerance to ethanol develops at different rates for different effects of the drug. The fact that chronic tolerance to the anticonvulsant effect of ethanol has been well documented raises doubts about the assumption that similar physiological changes underlie acute and chronic tolerance to a drug effect, and support the idea that the relationship between acute and chronic tolerance is more complex than previously thought.
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Affiliation(s)
- A D Lê
- Department of Primary Mechanisms Research and Development, Addiction Research Foundation of Ontario, Toronto, Canada
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Abstract
Four groups of rats received ethanol: 1) intermittently while experiencing hypothermia, 2) chronically while experiencing hypothermia, 3) intermittently while protected from hypothermia, and 4) chronically while being protected from hypothermia. On postchronic testing, Group 1 showed tolerance to 2.0 and 2.3 but not 2.7 g/kg ethanol, Group 2 was tolerant to all 3 doses, Group 3 was tolerant to none, and Group 4 was tolerant only to 2.7 g/kg. On withdrawal of chronic ethanol or vehicle, Groups 1 and 2 showed trends to lose tolerance which became significant after subsequent extinction training. The treatments were repeated in other rats up to the postchronic test for tolerance, after which they were killed at 15-120 min after ethanol to assay serum and brain concentrations. Serum and brain levels of ethanol were higher in Groups 2 and 4 despite less intense hypothermia (i.e., no metabolic tolerance). Analysis of covariance indicated less tolerance in Group 1 vs. Group 2 and Group 3 vs. Group 4 for the same brain levels of ethanol (i.e., cellular tolerance in Groups 2 and 4). Therefore, both learned and cellular tolerances were observed in these subjects and appeared to be separable phenomena according to the various treatments imposed.
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Affiliation(s)
- D Mackenzie-Taylor
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Michigan State University, East Lansing 48824
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Abstract
Ethanol tolerance is a complex phenomenon. Its development is governed by pharmacological and behavioural, as well as genetic factors. The doses of ethanol employed and the duration of ethanol treatment are important pharmacological variables. Behavioural factors such as experience of intoxication and Pavlovian conditioning may also affect the development or manifestation of ethanol tolerance. Genetic factors can influence the development of tolerance directly or/and indirectly through its influence on the initial sensitivity to ethanol. The relevance and implication of tolerance, particularly conditioned tolerance in alcohol abuse and alcoholism, are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- A D Lê
- Behavioral Pharmacology Section Addiction Research Foundation, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Hernandez LL, Valentine JD. Mild ethanol intoxication may enhance pavlovian conditioning. Drug Dev Res 1990. [DOI: 10.1002/ddr.430200204] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
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Le AD, Kalant H, Khanna JM. Roles of intoxicated practice in the development of ethanol tolerance. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 1989; 99:366-70. [PMID: 2594902 DOI: 10.1007/bf00445559] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
The development of tolerance to the motor impairment effect of ethanol was examined in separate groups of rats receiving and not receiving intoxicated practice. Tolerance to the motor impairment effect of ethanol developed whether or not rats received intoxicated practice during chronic ethanol treatment. Depending on the treatment dosage and test dose, intoxicated practice might enhance the level of tolerance attained. Tolerance to other effects of ethanol (hypothermia and narcosis) developed as a function of the treatment dosage. Intoxicated practice on the moving belt did not modify the development of tolerance to these effects of ethanol. Tolerance to the motor impairment effect of ethanol, however, was retained much longer in the intoxicated practice group following the termination of ethanol treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- A D Le
- Addiction Research Foundation of Ontario, Toronto, Canada
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Shippenberg TS, Emmett-Oglesby MW, Ayesta FJ, Herz A. Tolerance and selective cross-tolerance to the motivational effects of opioids. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 1988; 96:110-5. [PMID: 3147470 DOI: 10.1007/bf02431542] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
The issue of whether tolerance develops to the motivational effects of opioids was addressed by use of an unbiased place preference conditioning procedure. Administration of the mu-opioid agonists morphine or fentanyl produced dose-related preferences for the drug-associated place in control rats. In contrast, the kappa-opioid agonist, U-69593 produced conditioned place aversions. Non-contingent administration of morphine (5.0 mg/kg/12 h) for 4 days prior to conditioning resulted in tolerance to its reinforcing effects, and cross-tolerance to the effects of fentanyl. No cross-tolerance to the motivational effects of the psychostimulant d-amphetamine or the kappa-opioid agonist U-69593 was observed. Chronic administration of U-69593 prior to conditioning produced tolerance to its aversive effects. This treatment did not, however, modify the reinforcement produced by morphine. These data demonstrate that tolerance develops to both the reinforcing and aversive properties of opioids and suggest that differential cross-tolerance may provide a useful method for determining the pharmacological basis underlying drug-induced motivational effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- T S Shippenberg
- Department of Neuropharmacology, Max-Planck Institute for Psychiatry, Planegg-Martinsried, Federal Republic of Germany
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