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Schwarting RKW, Wöhr M, Engler H, Sungur AÖ, Schedlowski M. Behaviorally conditioned effects of psychoactive drugs in experimental animals: What we have learned from nearly a century of research and what remains to be learned. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2024; 162:105721. [PMID: 38754716 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105721] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2024] [Revised: 04/26/2024] [Accepted: 05/10/2024] [Indexed: 05/18/2024]
Abstract
Continuous treatment with drugs is a crucial requirement for managing various clinical conditions, including chronic pain and neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression or schizophrenia. Associative learning processes, i.e. Pavlovian conditioning, can play an important role for the effects of drugs and could open new avenues for optimizing patient treatment. In this narrative literature review, we summarize available data in experimental animals regarding the behaviorally conditioned effects of psychostimulants such as d-amphetamine and cocaine, the dopamine receptor agonist apomorphine, the dopamine receptor antagonist haloperidol, morphine and antidepressant drugs. In each section, the drug under discussion is briefly introduced, followed by a detailed examination of conditioning features, including doses and dosing regimens, characteristics of the conditioning process such as test environments or specific conditioned stimuli, testing and conditioned response characteristics, possible extinction or reconditioning or reversal training, neural mechanisms, and finally, the potential clinical relevance of the research area related to the drug. We focus on key outcomes, delve into methodical issues, identify gaps in current knowledge, and suggest future research directions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rainer K W Schwarting
- Philipps-University of Marburg, Faculty of Psychology, Experimental and Biological Psychology, Behavioral Neuroscience, Marburg D-35032, Germany; Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, Marburg D-35032, Germany
| | - Markus Wöhr
- Philipps-University of Marburg, Faculty of Psychology, Experimental and Biological Psychology, Behavioral Neuroscience, Marburg D-35032, Germany; Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, Marburg D-35032, Germany; KU Leuven, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Research Unit Brain and Cognition, Laboratory of Biological Psychology, Social and Affective Neuroscience Research Group, Leuven B-3000, Belgium; KU Leuven, Leuven Brain Institute, Leuven B-3000, Belgium
| | - Harald Engler
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Immunobiology, Center for Translational Neuro-, and Behavioral Sciences, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen D-45147, Germany
| | - A Özge Sungur
- Philipps-University of Marburg, Faculty of Psychology, Experimental and Biological Psychology, Behavioral Neuroscience, Marburg D-35032, Germany; Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, Marburg D-35032, Germany; KU Leuven, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Research Unit Brain and Cognition, Laboratory of Biological Psychology, Social and Affective Neuroscience Research Group, Leuven B-3000, Belgium; KU Leuven, Leuven Brain Institute, Leuven B-3000, Belgium
| | - Manfred Schedlowski
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Immunobiology, Center for Translational Neuro-, and Behavioral Sciences, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen D-45147, Germany; Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm 171 77, Sweden
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Ferreira JS, Leite Junior JB, de Mello Bastos JM, Samuels RI, Carey RJ, Carrera MP. A new method to study learning and memory using spontaneous locomotor activity in an open-field arena. J Neurosci Methods 2022; 366:109429. [PMID: 34852253 DOI: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2021.109429] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2021] [Revised: 10/25/2021] [Accepted: 11/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Reduced locomotion with repeated exposure to a novel environment is often used as a measure of the basic adaptive learning process of habituation. While this is a well-established and reliable measure of habituation, it is not useful for the investigation of neurobiological changes before and after habituation because of the uncontrolled differential activity levels in a novel versus habituated environment. In this study we report a behavioral method that uses spontaneous locomotion to measure habituation, in which the total spontaneous locomotion in an initially novel environment does not change with repeated testing but, the ratio of central to peripheral activity does change and is indicative of habituation. The test sessions are brief (5 min) and the locomotion is measured in 2 separate zones. The peripheral zone comprises 8/9 of the test arena and the central zone 1/9 of the arena. RESULTS/COMPARISON WITH EXISTING METHODS In contrast to methods that use between-session reductions in locomotion to assess habituation, this method employs brief test sessions in which overall activity between sessions does not change, but the distribution of locomotion in the periphery versus the central zone of the arena does change. The brevity of the test session also enables us to utilize post-trial drug treatment protocols to impact memory consolidation. CONCLUSIONS The progressive change in the central/peripheral activity ratio with repeated testing can be determined independently of total activity and provides a habituation acquisition function that permits the measurement of neurobiological changes without the complication of effects related to changes in locomotor activity per se. The present report also presents evidence that this method can be used with post-trial drug treatment protocols to study the learning and memory effects of the post-trial treatments without the use of explicit rewards and punishments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jaise Silva Ferreira
- Behavioral Pharmacology Group, Laboratory of Animal Morphology and Pathology, State University of North Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro, Avenida Alberto Lamego, 2000, Campos dos Goytacazes 28013-602, RJ, Brazil
| | - Joaquim Barbosa Leite Junior
- Behavioral Pharmacology Group, Laboratory of Animal Morphology and Pathology, State University of North Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro, Avenida Alberto Lamego, 2000, Campos dos Goytacazes 28013-602, RJ, Brazil
| | - João Marcos de Mello Bastos
- Behavioral Pharmacology Group, Laboratory of Animal Morphology and Pathology, State University of North Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro, Avenida Alberto Lamego, 2000, Campos dos Goytacazes 28013-602, RJ, Brazil
| | - Richard Ian Samuels
- Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, State University of North Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro, Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ, Brazil
| | - Robert J Carey
- Department of Psychiatry SUNY Upstate Medical University, 800 Irving Avenue, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA
| | - Marinete Pinheiro Carrera
- Behavioral Pharmacology Group, Laboratory of Animal Morphology and Pathology, State University of North Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro, Avenida Alberto Lamego, 2000, Campos dos Goytacazes 28013-602, RJ, Brazil.
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Ferreira JS, de Mello Bastos JM, Leite Junior JB, Samuels RI, Carey RJ, Carrera MP. Morphine administered post-trial induces potent morphine conditioned effects if the context is novel but not if the context is familiar. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 2020; 196:172978. [PMID: 32593788 DOI: 10.1016/j.pbb.2020.172978] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2019] [Revised: 06/14/2020] [Accepted: 06/23/2020] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Morphine administered shortly after exposure to a novel environment induces potent locomotor stimulant conditioning. Environmental novelty is important as pre-exposure (PE) to a stimulus can attenuate the capacity to acquire conditioned stimulus (CS). Here, the importance of environmental novelty for the efficacy of an open-field to become a CS for elicitation of a morphine conditioned response was assessed by comparing the effects of morphine administered post-trial following a 5 min exposure to a novel environment versus a PE environment. Four groups of rats (2 vehicle and 2 morphine groups) were used. Two groups received ten daily 5 min non-drug PEs to an open-field arena and the other two groups were not pre-exposed to the environment. Subsequently, all groups received post-trial injections of either vehicle or morphine immediately after each of five daily 5 min sessions in the open-field. Importantly, on the first day of testing prior to the first post-test morphine administration, the locomotor activity of the novel and PE groups was not different. Over the 5 post-trial morphine treatments, the activity of the PE morphine group, the PE vehicle and the novel environment vehicle groups did not change and were equivalent. In contrast, in the novel environment morphine group, a conditioned hyper-activity response increased with repeated post-trial morphine treatments. For the morphine group it is suggested that the novel environment initiated a post-trial stimulus trace that occurred in temporal contiguity with the post-trial drug response and enabled the trace to become a CS for the morphine unconditioned response. In contrast, PE induced a latent inhibition effect in the PE morphine group, thus the post-trial CS trace was insufficient to become associated to the morphine response and no conditioning occurred. In addition to conventional drug induced Pavlovian delay conditioning, the findings are suggestive of drug induced Pavlovian trace conditioning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jaise Silva Ferreira
- Behavioral Pharmacology Group, Laboratory of Animal Morphology and Pathology, State University of North Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro, Avenida Alberto Lamego, 2000, Campos dos Goytacazes 28013-602, RJ, Brazil
| | - João Marcos de Mello Bastos
- Behavioral Pharmacology Group, Laboratory of Animal Morphology and Pathology, State University of North Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro, Avenida Alberto Lamego, 2000, Campos dos Goytacazes 28013-602, RJ, Brazil
| | - Joaquim Barbosa Leite Junior
- Behavioral Pharmacology Group, Laboratory of Animal Morphology and Pathology, State University of North Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro, Avenida Alberto Lamego, 2000, Campos dos Goytacazes 28013-602, RJ, Brazil
| | - Richard Ian Samuels
- Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, State University of North Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro, Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ, Brazil
| | - Robert J Carey
- Department of Psychiatry, SUNY Upstate Medical University, 800 Irving Avenue, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA
| | - Marinete Pinheiro Carrera
- Behavioral Pharmacology Group, Laboratory of Animal Morphology and Pathology, State University of North Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro, Avenida Alberto Lamego, 2000, Campos dos Goytacazes 28013-602, RJ, Brazil.
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Carey RJ. Drugs and memory: Evidence that drug effects can become associated with contextual cues by being paired post-trial with consolidation/re-consolidation. Mini review. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 2020; 192:172911. [DOI: 10.1016/j.pbb.2020.172911] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2019] [Revised: 02/22/2020] [Accepted: 03/19/2020] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
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Medial prefrontal cortex ERK and conditioning: Evidence for the association of increased medial prefrontal cortex ERK with the presence/absence of apomorphine conditioned behavior using a unique post-trial conditioning/extinction protocol. Behav Brain Res 2019; 365:56-65. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2019.02.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2018] [Revised: 02/05/2019] [Accepted: 02/12/2019] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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Oliveira LRD, Santos BGD, de Mello Bastos JM, Samuels RI, Carey RJ, Carrera MP. Morphine administered post-trial can induce potent conditioned morphine effects. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 2019; 179:134-141. [DOI: 10.1016/j.pbb.2019.02.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2018] [Revised: 01/24/2019] [Accepted: 02/24/2019] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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Santos BG, Carey RJ, Carrera MP. Repeated pre-trial and post-trial low and high dose apomorphine treatments induce comparable inhibitory/excitatory sensitization and conditioned drug effects. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 2018; 175:108-115. [DOI: 10.1016/j.pbb.2018.09.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2018] [Revised: 09/23/2018] [Accepted: 09/25/2018] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
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De la Casa LG, Cárcel L, Ruiz-Salas JC, Vicente L, Mena A. Conditioned increase of locomotor activity induced by haloperidol. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0200178. [PMID: 30281607 PMCID: PMC6169844 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0200178] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2018] [Accepted: 09/14/2018] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Dopamine antagonist drugs have profound effects on locomotor activity. In particular, the administration of the D2 antagonist haloperidol produces a state that is similar to catalepsy. In order to confirm whether the modulation of the dopaminergic activity produced by haloperidol can act as an unconditioned stimulus, we carried out two experiments in which the administration of haloperidol was repeatedly paired with the presence of distinctive contextual cues that served as a Conditioned Stimulus. Paradoxically, the results revealed a dose-dependent increase in locomotor activity following conditioning with dopamine antagonist (Experiments 1) that was susceptible of extinction when the conditioned stimulus was presented repeatedly by itself after conditioning (Experiment 2). These data are interpreted from an associative perspective, considering them as a result of a classical conditioning process.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Lucía Cárcel
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Universidad de Sevilla, Seville, Spain
| | | | - Lucía Vicente
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Universidad de Sevilla, Seville, Spain
| | - Auxiliadora Mena
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Universidad de Sevilla, Seville, Spain
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Santos BG, Carey RJ, Carrera MP. The acquisition, extinction and spontaneous recovery of Pavlovian drug conditioning induced by post-trial dopaminergic stimulation/inhibition. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 2017; 156:24-29. [PMID: 28392213 DOI: 10.1016/j.pbb.2017.04.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2016] [Revised: 02/11/2017] [Accepted: 04/03/2017] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
In contextual drug conditioning, the onset of the drug treatment is contiguous with the contextual cues. Evidence suggests that drug conditioning also can occur if there is a discontinuity between the onset of the drug effect and offset of the contextual cues. Here we examine whether post-trial contextual drug conditioning conforms to several Pavlovian conditioning tenets namely: acquisition, extinction and spontaneous recovery. Six groups of rats received apomorphine (0.05 or 2.0mg/kg) and vehicle immediately or after a 15min delay following a 5min non-drug exposure to an open-field during three successive days (conditioning phase). The extinction phase occurred on days 4-8, in which all post-trial treatments were vehicle injections. After 2days of non-testing, the final test was performed. The results showed that on the first test day, the activity levels of the 6 groups were statistically equivalent. On test day 2, there were marked differences in activity levels selectively between the two immediate post-trial apomorphine treatment groups. The immediate low dose apomorphine group displayed a reduction in activity and the immediate high dose group an increase in activity relative to their day 1 levels. The activity levels of both vehicle groups and both apomorphine delay groups remained equivalent to their day 1 activity levels. On test day 3, the differences in activity levels between the two immediate post-trial apomorphine groups increased but the activity levels of the vehicle groups and the 15min delay post-trial apomorphine groups remained unchanged. In the extinction phase, the conditioned activity differences between the two immediate post-trial apomorphine groups were gradually eliminated. During the final test, the activity differences between the immediate post-trial apomorphine groups were partially restored, indicative of spontaneous recovery. These findings are consistent with several basic elements of Pavlovian conditioning and are supportive of drug induced trace conditioning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Breno Garone Santos
- Behavioral Pharmacology Group, Laboratory of Morphology and Pathology Animal Health, State University of North Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro, Avenida Alberto Lamego, 2000, Campos dos Goytacazes 28013-600, RJ, Brazil
| | - Robert J Carey
- Research and Development (151), VA Medical Center and SUNY Upstate Medical University, 800 Irving Avenue, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA
| | - Marinete Pinheiro Carrera
- Behavioral Pharmacology Group, Laboratory of Morphology and Pathology Animal Health, State University of North Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro, Avenida Alberto Lamego, 2000, Campos dos Goytacazes 28013-600, RJ, Brazil.
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Post-trial dopaminergic modulation of conditioned catalepsy: A single apomorphine induced increase/decrease in dopaminergic activation immediately following a conditioned catalepsy response can reverse/enhance a haloperidol conditioned and sensitized catalepsy response. Behav Brain Res 2016; 311:87-98. [PMID: 27173428 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2016.05.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2016] [Revised: 05/04/2016] [Accepted: 05/06/2016] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Haloperidol can induce catalepsy and this drug effect can be conditioned as well as sensitized to contextual cues. We used a paired/unpaired Pavlovian conditioning protocol to establish haloperidol catalepsy conditioned and sensitized responses. Groups of rats were given 10 daily catalepsy tests following administration of vehicle (n=24) or haloperidol (1.0mg/kg) either paired (n=18) or unpaired (n=18) to testing. Subsequently, testing for conditioning was conducted and conditioning and sensitization of catalepsy were observed selectively in the paired group. Immediately following a second test for catalepsy conditioning, the groups were subdivided into 4 vehicle groups, 3 unpaired haloperidol groups and 3 paired haloperidol groups and were given one of three post-trial treatments (vehicle, 0.05mg/kg or 2.0mg/kg apomorphine). One day later the conditioned catalepsy test 3 was carried out and on the next day, a haloperidol challenge test was performed. The post-trial apomorphine treatments had major effects on the paired groups upon both conditioning and the haloperidol challenge test. The low dose apomorphine post-trial treatment enhanced both the conditioned and the haloperidol sensitized catalepsy responses. The high dose apomorphine post-trial treatment eliminated conditioned catalepsy and eliminated the initial acute catalepsy response to haloperidol that was induced in the vehicle control groups. These results demonstrate the sensitivity of conditioned drug cues to modification by increases/decreases in activity of the dopamine system in the immediate post-trial interval after a conditioning trial. This demonstration that post-trial dopaminergic drug treatments can modify conditioned drug behavior has broad implications for conditioned drug effects.
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