1
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Tan B, Browne CJ, Nöbauer T, Vaziri A, Friedman JM, Nestler EJ. Drugs of abuse hijack a mesolimbic pathway that processes homeostatic need. Science 2024; 384:eadk6742. [PMID: 38669575 PMCID: PMC11077477 DOI: 10.1126/science.adk6742] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2023] [Accepted: 02/26/2024] [Indexed: 04/28/2024]
Abstract
Drugs of abuse are thought to promote addiction in part by "hijacking" brain reward systems, but the underlying mechanisms remain undefined. Using whole-brain FOS mapping and in vivo single-neuron calcium imaging, we found that drugs of abuse augment dopaminoceptive ensemble activity in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) and disorganize overlapping ensemble responses to natural rewards in a cell type-specific manner. Combining FOS-Seq, CRISPR-perturbation, and single-nucleus RNA sequencing, we identified Rheb as a molecular substrate that regulates cell type-specific signal transduction in NAc while enabling drugs to suppress natural reward consumption. Mapping NAc-projecting regions activated by drugs of abuse revealed input-specific effects on natural reward consumption. These findings characterize the dynamic, molecular and circuit basis of a common reward pathway, wherein drugs of abuse interfere with the fulfillment of innate needs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bowen Tan
- Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Rockefeller University; New York, NY 10065, USA
| | - Caleb J. Browne
- Nash Family Department of Neuroscience, Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; New York, NY 10029, USA
- Brain Health Imaging Centre, Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health; Toronto, ON, M5T 1R8, Canada
| | - Tobias Nöbauer
- Laboratory of Neurotechnology and Biophysics, The Rockefeller University; New York, NY 10065, USA
| | - Alipasha Vaziri
- Laboratory of Neurotechnology and Biophysics, The Rockefeller University; New York, NY 10065, USA
- The Kavli Neural Systems Institute, The Rockefeller University; New York, NY 10065, USA
| | - Jeffrey M. Friedman
- Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Rockefeller University; New York, NY 10065, USA
| | - Eric J. Nestler
- Nash Family Department of Neuroscience, Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; New York, NY 10029, USA
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2
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Beasley MM, Amantini S, Gunawan T, Silberberg A, Kearns DN. Cocaine and heroin interact differently with nondrug reinforcers in a choice situation. Exp Clin Psychopharmacol 2024; 32:158-172. [PMID: 37535523 PMCID: PMC10837314 DOI: 10.1037/pha0000674] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/05/2023]
Abstract
The present study used a rat choice model to test how cocaine or heroin economically interacted with two different nondrug reinforcers along the substitute-to-complement continuum. In Experiment 1, the nondrug alternative was the negative reinforcer timeout-from-avoidance (TOA)-that is, rats could press a lever to obtain a period of safety from footshock. One group of rats chose between cocaine and TOA and another group chose between heroin and TOA. The relative prices of the reinforcers were manipulated across phases while controlling for potential income effects. When cocaine was the reinforcer, rats reacted to price changes by increasing their allocation of behavior to the more expensive option, thereby maintaining relatively proportional intake of cocaine and TOA reinforcers across prices, suggesting these reinforcers were complements here. In contrast, when heroin became relatively cheap, rats increased allocation of income to heroin and decreased allocation of income to TOA, suggesting that heroin substituted for safety. Additionally, rats were willing to accept more footshocks when heroin was easily available. In Experiment 2, the nondrug alternative was saccharin, a positive reinforcer. Heroin and saccharin were complements, but there was no consistent effect of price changes on the allocation of behavior between cocaine and saccharin. As a model of the processes that could be involved in human drug use, these results show that drug-taking behavior depends on the type of drug, the type of nondrug alternative available, and the prices of both. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Sarah Amantini
- Psychology Department, American University, Washington, DC
| | - Tommy Gunawan
- Human Psychopharmacology Laboratory, NIAAA/NIH, Bethesda, MD
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3
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D'Ottavio G, Reverte I, Ragozzino D, Meringolo M, Milella MS, Boix F, Venniro M, Badiani A, Caprioli D. Increased heroin intake and relapse vulnerability in intermittent relative to continuous self-administration: Sex differences in rats. Br J Pharmacol 2023; 180:910-926. [PMID: 34986504 PMCID: PMC9253203 DOI: 10.1111/bph.15791] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2021] [Revised: 12/02/2021] [Accepted: 12/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Studies using intermittent-access drug self-administration show increased motivation to take and seek cocaine and fentanyl, relative to continuous access. In this study, we examined the effects of intermittent- and continuous-access self-administration on heroin intake, patterns of self-administration and cue-induced heroin-seeking, after forced or voluntary abstinence, in male and female rats. We also modelled brain levels of heroin and its active metabolites. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH Rats were trained to self-administer a palatable solution and then heroin (0.075 mg·kg-1 per inf) either continuously (6 h·day-1 ; 10 days) or intermittently (6 h·day-1 ; 5-min access every 30-min; 10 days). Brain levels of heroin and its metabolites were modelled using a pharmacokinetic software. Next, heroin-seeking was assessed after 1 or 21 abstinence days. Between tests, rats underwent either forced or voluntary abstinence. The oestrous cycle was measured using a vaginal smear test. KEY RESULTS Intermittent access exacerbated heroin self-administration and was characterized by a burst-like intake, yielding higher brain peaks of heroin and 6-monoacetylmorphine concentrations. Moreover, intermittent access increased cue-induced heroin-seeking during early, but not late abstinence. Heroin-seeking was higher in females after intermittent, but not continuous access, and this effect was independent of the oestrous cycle. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS Intermittent heroin access in rats resembles critical features of heroin use disorder: a self-administration pattern characterized by repeated large doses of heroin and higher relapse vulnerability during early abstinence. This has significant implications for refining animal models of substance use disorder and for better understanding of the neuroadaptations responsible for this disorder. LINKED ARTICLES This article is part of a themed issue on Advances in Opioid Pharmacology at the Time of the Opioid Epidemic. To view the other articles in this section visit http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bph.v180.7/issuetoc.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ginevra D'Ottavio
- Laboratory affiliated to Institute Pasteur Italia - Fondazione Cenci Bolognetti - Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.,Santa Lucia Foundation (IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia), Rome, Italy
| | - Ingrid Reverte
- Laboratory affiliated to Institute Pasteur Italia - Fondazione Cenci Bolognetti - Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.,Santa Lucia Foundation (IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia), Rome, Italy
| | - Davide Ragozzino
- Laboratory affiliated to Institute Pasteur Italia - Fondazione Cenci Bolognetti - Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.,Santa Lucia Foundation (IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia), Rome, Italy
| | - Maria Meringolo
- Santa Lucia Foundation (IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia), Rome, Italy
| | - Michele Stanislaw Milella
- Laboratory affiliated to Institute Pasteur Italia - Fondazione Cenci Bolognetti - Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.,Toxicology Unit, Policlinico Umberto I University Hospital, Rome, Italy
| | - Fernando Boix
- Section for Drug Abuse Research, Department of Forensic Sciences, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Marco Venniro
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
| | - Aldo Badiani
- Laboratory affiliated to Institute Pasteur Italia - Fondazione Cenci Bolognetti - Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.,Sussex Addiction Research and Intervention Centre (SARIC) and School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK
| | - Daniele Caprioli
- Laboratory affiliated to Institute Pasteur Italia - Fondazione Cenci Bolognetti - Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.,Santa Lucia Foundation (IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia), Rome, Italy
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4
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Marchant NJ, McDonald AJ, Matsuzaki R, van Mourik Y, Schetters D, De Vries TJ. Rats choose alcohol over social reward in an operant choice procedure. Neuropsychopharmacology 2023; 48:585-593. [PMID: 36109596 PMCID: PMC9938232 DOI: 10.1038/s41386-022-01447-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2022] [Revised: 08/24/2022] [Accepted: 08/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
The interaction between social factors and alcohol addiction is complex, with potential for both positive and negative contributions to drug use and abstinence. Positive social connections are an important component in successful abstinence, and yet the social context of alcohol use can also lead to relapse. Recently it was shown that rats overwhelmingly choose social reward over methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin in a discrete choice procedure, and that prolonged choice for social reward attenuates incubation of drug craving. The extent to which this effect generalises to rats trained to self-administer alcohol is not known. In this study we aimed to test the effect of social reward on choice for alcohol in male and female rats. We first validated social reward self-administration in both male and female Long-Evans rats, and found that 60 s access to a social partner of the same sex can serve as an operant reinforcer. Next we trained rats to self-administer both social reward and alcohol (20% ethanol in water), and then used discrete choice trial based tests to determine whether there is a choice preference for alcohol or social reward. Our main finding is that both male and female rats showed persistent choice for alcohol over social reward, with only minor differences between the sexes. We also show that choice for alcohol could be reduced via increased response requirement for alcohol, pre-choice alcohol exposure, and also decreasing the alcohol percentage. This study shows that preference for social rewards over drugs may not generalise to rats self-administering alcohol, and we describe several conditions where choice for social reward can be developed. This study highlights the important contribution of social factors to alcohol abuse, and future studies can investigate the neurobiology underlying a shift in preference from alcohol to social rewards.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nathan J Marchant
- Department of Anatomy & Neurosciences, Amsterdam UMC location Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
- Compulsivity Impulsivity and Attention, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
| | - Allison J McDonald
- Department of Anatomy & Neurosciences, Amsterdam UMC location Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Compulsivity Impulsivity and Attention, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Rie Matsuzaki
- Department of Anatomy & Neurosciences, Amsterdam UMC location Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Compulsivity Impulsivity and Attention, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Yvar van Mourik
- Department of Anatomy & Neurosciences, Amsterdam UMC location Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Compulsivity Impulsivity and Attention, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Dustin Schetters
- Department of Anatomy & Neurosciences, Amsterdam UMC location Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Compulsivity Impulsivity and Attention, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Taco J De Vries
- Department of Anatomy & Neurosciences, Amsterdam UMC location Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Compulsivity Impulsivity and Attention, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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5
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Kearns DN. The complexity of drug choice: rats prefer alcohol over social interaction. Neuropsychopharmacology 2023; 48:583-584. [PMID: 36198877 PMCID: PMC9938123 DOI: 10.1038/s41386-022-01469-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2022] [Accepted: 09/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- David N Kearns
- Department of Psychology, American University, Washington, DC, USA.
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6
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Lenoir M, Navailles S, Vandaele Y, Vouillac-Mendoza C, Guillem K, Ahmed SH. Large-scale brain correlates of sweet versus cocaine reward in rats. Eur J Neurosci 2023; 57:423-439. [PMID: 36453530 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15879] [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: 06/15/2022] [Revised: 11/09/2022] [Accepted: 11/20/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022]
Abstract
Cocaine induces many supranormal changes in neuronal activity in the brain, notably in learning- and reward-related regions, in comparison with nondrug rewards-a difference that is thought to contribute to its relatively high addictive potential. However, when facing a choice between cocaine and a nondrug reward (e.g., water sweetened with saccharin), most rats do not choose cocaine, as one would expect from the extent and magnitude of its global activation of the brain, but instead choose the nondrug option. We recently showed that cocaine, though larger in magnitude, is also an inherently more delayed reward than sweet water, thereby explaining why it has less value during choice and why rats opt for the more immediate nondrug option. Here, we used a large-scale Fos brain mapping approach to measure brain responses to each option in saccharin-preferring rats, with the hope to identify brain regions whose activity may explain the preference for the nondrug option. In total, Fos expression was measured in 142 brain levels corresponding to 52 brain subregions and composing 5 brain macrosystems. Overall, our findings confirm in rats with a preference for saccharin that cocaine induces more global brain activation than the preferred nondrug option does. Only very few brain regions were uniquely activated by saccharin. They included regions involved in taste processing (i.e., anterior gustatory cortex) and also regions involved in processing reward delay and intertemporal choice (i.e., some components of the septohippocampal system and its connections with the lateral habenula).
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Affiliation(s)
- Magalie Lenoir
- Université de Bordeaux, CNRS, INCIA, UMR 5287, Bordeaux, France
| | | | - Youna Vandaele
- INSERM, U-1084, Laboratoire des Neurosciences Expérimentales et Cliniques, Université de Poitiers, Poitiers, France
| | | | - Karine Guillem
- Université de Bordeaux, CNRS, INCIA, UMR 5287, Bordeaux, France
| | - Serge H Ahmed
- Université de Bordeaux, CNRS, INCIA, UMR 5287, Bordeaux, France
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7
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Padovan-Hernandez Y, Rojas G, Wu L, Knackstedt LA. Individual differences in cocaine seeking during voluntary abstinence predicts cocaine relapse and the circuitry mediating relapse. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2022; 239:3963-3973. [PMID: 36329194 PMCID: PMC10240883 DOI: 10.1007/s00213-022-06270-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2022] [Accepted: 10/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
RATIONALE There are no FDA-approved treatments to facilitate recovery from cocaine use disorder. Contingency management offers non-drug reinforcers to encourage abstinence and is effective at reducing drug seeking during treatment, but once discontinued, relapse rates increase. OBJECTIVES We sought to establish a choice-based rodent model of voluntary abstinence (VA) from cocaine to test the ability of ceftriaxone, an antibiotic consistently shown to prevent relapse to cocaine seeking in rodents, to attenuate relapse after discontinuation of VA, and to investigate relapse-induced neuronal activation via c-Fos expression. METHODS Male Sprague-Dawley rats self-administered sucrose pellets for 5 days and intravenous cocaine for 12 days. Rats then underwent 14 days of voluntary or forced abstinence. VA sessions entailed the opportunity to choose between sucrose and cocaine delivery in discrete trials (20 trials/day). Ceftriaxone (or vehicle) was administered during the last 7 days of abstinence. During a relapse test, only the cocaine-paired lever was available and presses on the lever delivered cocaine-paired cues. RESULTS There were more presses on the sucrose lever during VA, but cocaine intake did not decline to zero. Ceftriaxone had no effect on cocaine intake during VA. Neither ceftriaxone nor VA reduced cocaine seeking during the relapse test, and cocaine intake during VA positively correlated with cocaine seeking during the test in vehicle-treated animals. Relapse-induced c-Fos expression was found to be greater in the ventral orbitofrontal cortex following VA. CONCLUSIONS Sucrose availability leads to a decrease in, but not cessation of, cocaine seeking and a differential engagement of the circuitry underlying relapse.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yasmin Padovan-Hernandez
- Psychology Department, University of Florida, 114 Psychology, 945 Center Dr, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA
- Center for Addiction Research and Education, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA
- Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA
| | - Giselle Rojas
- Psychology Department, University of Florida, 114 Psychology, 945 Center Dr, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA
| | - Lizhen Wu
- Psychology Department, University of Florida, 114 Psychology, 945 Center Dr, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA
| | - Lori A Knackstedt
- Psychology Department, University of Florida, 114 Psychology, 945 Center Dr, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA.
- Center for Addiction Research and Education, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA.
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8
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Vandaele Y, Augier E, Vouillac-Mendoza C, Ahmed SH. Cocaine falls into oblivion during volitional initiation of choice trials. Addict Biol 2022; 27:e13235. [PMID: 36301214 DOI: 10.1111/adb.13235] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2022] [Accepted: 09/12/2022] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
When facing a choice, most animals quit drugs in favour of a variety of nondrug alternatives. We recently found, rather unexpectedly, that choice of the nondrug alternative is in fact inflexible and habitual. One possible contributing factor to habitual choice is the intermittency and uncontrollability of choice trials in previous studies. Here, we asked whether and to what extent volitional control over the occurrence of choice trials could change animals' preference by preventing habitual choice. To do so, rats were trained to nosepoke in a hole to trigger the presentation of two operant levers: one associated with cocaine, the other with saccharin. Rats were then free to choose among the two levers to obtain the corresponding reward, after which both levers retracted until rats self-initiated the next choice trial. Overall, we found that volitional control over choice trials did not change preference. Most rats preferred saccharin over cocaine and selected this option almost exclusively. Intriguingly, after repeated choice and consumption of saccharin, rats transiently lost interest in this option (i.e., due to sensory-specific satiety), but they did not switch to cocaine, preferring instead to pause during long periods of time before reinitiating a choice trial for saccharin. This finding suggests that during volitional initiation of a choice trial, rats fail to consider cocaine as an option. We discuss a possible associative mechanism to explain this perplexing behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Youna Vandaele
- Université de Poitiers, Laboratory of Experimental and Clinical Neurosciences, INSERM U1084, Poitiers, France
| | - Eric Augier
- Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience, BKV, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
| | - Caroline Vouillac-Mendoza
- Université de Bordeaux, Institut de Neurosciences Cognitives et Intégratives d'Aquitaine, UMR5287, Bordeaux, France.,CNRS, Institut de Neurosciences Cognitives et Intégratives d'Aquitaine, UMR5287, Bordeaux, France
| | - Serge H Ahmed
- Université de Bordeaux, Institut de Neurosciences Cognitives et Intégratives d'Aquitaine, UMR5287, Bordeaux, France.,CNRS, Institut de Neurosciences Cognitives et Intégratives d'Aquitaine, UMR5287, Bordeaux, France
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9
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St Onge CM, Taylor KM, Marcus MM, Townsend EA. Sensitivity of a fentanyl-vs.-social interaction choice procedure to environmental and pharmacological manipulations. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 2022; 221:173473. [PMID: 36228740 PMCID: PMC9729431 DOI: 10.1016/j.pbb.2022.173473] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2022] [Revised: 09/27/2022] [Accepted: 10/05/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Recent studies have shown that social interaction can serve as an alternative reinforcer to opioid self-administration under a choice context in rats. However, additional parametric studies are needed to evaluate the sensitivity of opioid-vs.-social interaction procedures relative to more established opioid-vs.-food procedures. The current study evaluated the sensitivity of a novel fentanyl-vs.-social interaction choice procedure to environmental and pharmacological manipulations previously shown to affect fentanyl-vs.-food choice. Male and female rats (responder rats; n = 6/sex) were trained to respond in a discrete-trial choice procedure for either 30-s access to a same-sex "partner" rat or an intravenous fentanyl infusion. Once trained, the effects of fentanyl unit dose (0, 0.32-10 μg/kg/inf), partner rat presence, opioid-dependence status, chronic naltrexone administration (0.032, 0.1 mg/kg/h), and response requirement for fentanyl self-administration (fixed ratio 1-320) were determined across weeks. The fentanyl-vs.-social interaction choice procedure was sensitive to the unit dose of fentanyl, chronic naltrexone treatment, and fentanyl response requirement. However, the magnitude of these effects on fentanyl choice was smaller than those reported in published fentanyl-vs.-food choice studies. Furthermore, fentanyl-vs.-social interaction choice was not sensitive to removal of the partner rat or opioid-dependence status. Minimal sex differences were detected. These results suggest that this fentanyl-vs.-social interaction choice procedure is less sensitive to environmental and pharmacological interventions than previously established opioid-vs.-food choice procedures. The observed discrepancy in sensitivity between the procedures suggests that social interaction may have qualitatively different reinforcing properties compared to more commonly assessed alternative reinforcers such as food (preclinical) or money (human laboratory).
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Affiliation(s)
- Celsey M St Onge
- Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
| | - Kaia M Taylor
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
| | - Madison M Marcus
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
| | - E Andrew Townsend
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA; Division of Therapeutics and Medical Consequences, National Institute on Drug Abuse, North Bethesda, MD, USA.
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10
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Marcus MM, Negus SS, Banks ML. Effects of environmental manipulations on cocaine-vs-social choice in male and female rats. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 2022; 220:173462. [PMID: 36084838 PMCID: PMC10020861 DOI: 10.1016/j.pbb.2022.173462] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2022] [Revised: 08/30/2022] [Accepted: 09/04/2022] [Indexed: 10/14/2022]
Abstract
Cocaine use disorder occurs in an environment where cocaine and other nondrug commodities are concurrently available. Preclinical drug-vs-nondrug choice procedures are one simplified method of modeling this complex clinical environment. The present study established a discrete-trial cocaine-vs-social interaction choice procedure in male and female rats and determined sensitivity of choice behavior to manipulations of reinforcer magnitude and non-contingent "sample" reinforcer presentation. Rats could make up to nine discrete choices between an intravenous cocaine infusion (0.1-1.0 mg/kg/inf) and social interaction with a same-sex social "Partner" rat. Cocaine infusions were available under a progressive-ratio (PR) schedule of reinforcement, and social interaction was available under a fixed-ratio (FR) 3 schedule. Social interaction was chosen over no or small cocaine doses (saline, 0.01 mg/kg/inf) and behavior was reallocated away from social and towards cocaine at larger cocaine doses (1.0 mg/kg/inf). Manipulating social interaction time as one method to alter social reinforcer magnitude did not significantly alter cocaine-vs-social choice. Removing the non-contingent reinforcer presentations before the discrete choice trials also failed to affect cocaine-vs-social choice, suggesting the time interval was sufficient to minimize any potential influence of the non-contingent cocaine infusions on subsequent choice behavior. Overall, the present results were consistent with previous drug-vs-social choice studies and extend our knowledge of environmental factors impacting drug-vs-social choice. Future studies determining the pharmacological sensitivity of cocaine-vs-social choice will be important in expanding the preclinical utility of these procedures for candidate medication drug development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Madison M Marcus
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, VA 23298, USA
| | - S Stevens Negus
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, VA 23298, USA
| | - Matthew L Banks
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, VA 23298, USA.
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11
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From concepts to treatment: a dialog between a preclinical researcher and a clinician in addiction medicine. Transl Psychiatry 2022; 12:401. [PMID: 36130939 PMCID: PMC9492712 DOI: 10.1038/s41398-022-02177-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2022] [Revised: 09/06/2022] [Accepted: 09/12/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
The debate surrounding the brain disease model and the associated questioning of the relevance of animal models is polarizing the field of addiction, and tends to widen the gap between preclinical research and addiction medicine. Here, we aimed at bridging this gap by establishing a dialog between a preclinical researcher and a clinician in addiction medicine. Our objective was to evaluate animal models and the neuroscientific conceptualization of addiction in light of alcohol or drug dependence and treatment in patients struggling with an addiction. We sought to determine how preclinical research influenced addiction medicine over past decades, and reciprocally, what can preclinical researchers learn from addiction medicine that could lead to more effective approaches. In this dialog, we talk about the co-evolution of addiction concepts and treatments from neuroscientific and medical perspectives. This dialog illustrates the reciprocal influences and mutual enrichment between the two disciplines and reveals that, although preclinical research might not produce new pharmacotherapies, it does shape the theoretical conceptualization of addiction and could thereby contribute to the implementation of therapeutic approaches.
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12
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Vandaele Y, Ahmed SH. Choosing between cocaine and sucrose under the influence: testing the effect of cocaine tolerance. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2022; 239:1053-1063. [PMID: 34596725 DOI: 10.1007/s00213-021-05987-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2021] [Accepted: 09/14/2021] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
RATIONALE Cocaine use not only depends on the reinforcing properties of the drug, but also on its pharmacological effects on alternative nondrug activities. In animal models investigating choice between cocaine and alternative sweet rewards, the latter influence can have a dramatic impact on choice outcomes. When choosing under cocaine influence is prevented by imposing sufficiently long intervals between choice trials, animals typically prefer the sweet reward. However, when choosing under the drug influence is permitted, animals shift their preference in favor of cocaine. OBJECTIVES We previously hypothesized that this preference shift is mainly due to a direct suppression of responding for sweet reward by cocaine pharmacological effects. Here we tested this hypothesis by making rats tolerant to this drug-induced behavioral suppression. RESULTS Contrary to our expectation, tolerance did not prevent rats from shifting their preference to cocaine when choosing under the influence. CONCLUSION Thus, other mechanisms must be invoked to explain the influence of cocaine intoxication on choice outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - S H Ahmed
- Institut Des Maladies Neurodégénératives, Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France.,Institut Des Maladies Neurodégénératives, CNRS, Bordeaux, France
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13
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Individual differences in addiction-like behaviors and choice between cocaine versus food in Heterogeneous Stock rats. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2021; 238:3423-3433. [PMID: 34415376 PMCID: PMC8889911 DOI: 10.1007/s00213-021-05961-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2021] [Accepted: 08/05/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES Recent studies reported that when given a mutually exclusive choice between cocaine and palatable food, most rats prefer the non-drug reward over cocaine. However, these studies used rat strains with limited genetic and behavioral diversity. Here, we used a unique outbred strain of rats (Heterogeneous Stock, HS) that mimic the genetic variability of humans. METHODS We first identified individual differences in addiction-like behaviors (low and high). Next, we tested choice between cocaine and palatable food using a discrete choice procedure. We characterized the individual differences using an addiction score that incorporates key features of addiction: escalated intake, highly motivated responding (progressive ratio), and responding despite adverse consequences (footshock punishment). We assessed food versus cocaine choice at different drug-free days (without pre-choice cocaine self-administration) during acquisition of cocaine self-administration or after escalation of cocaine self-administration. We also assessed drug versus food choice immediately after 1-, 2-, or 6-h cocaine self-administration. RESULTS Independent of the addiction score, without pre-choice cocaine (1 or more abstinence days), HS rats strongly preferred the palatable food over cocaine, even if the food reward was delayed or its size was reduced. However, rats with high but not low addiction score modestly increased cocaine choice immediately after 1-, 2-, or 6-h cocaine self-administration. CONCLUSIONS Like other strains, HS rats strongly prefer palatable food over cocaine. Individual differences in addiction score were associated with increased drug choice in the presence but not absence (abstinence) of cocaine. The HS strain may be useful in studies on mechanisms of addiction vulnerability.
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Keefer SE, Gyawali U, Calu DJ. Choose your path: Divergent basolateral amygdala efferents differentially mediate incentive motivation, flexibility and decision-making. Behav Brain Res 2021; 409:113306. [PMID: 33887310 PMCID: PMC8189324 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2021.113306] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2020] [Revised: 04/09/2021] [Accepted: 04/12/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
To survive in a complex environment, individuals form associations between environmental stimuli and rewards to organize and optimize reward seeking behaviors. The basolateral amygdala (BLA) uses these learned associations to inform decision-making processes. In this review, we describe functional projections between BLA and its cortical and striatal targets that promote learning and motivational processes central to decision-making. Specifically, we compare and contrast divergent projections from the BLA to the orbitofrontal (OFC) and to the nucleus accumbens (NAc) and examine the roles of these pathways in associative learning, value-guided decision-making, choice behaviors, as well as cue and context-driven drug seeking. Finally, we consider how these projections are involved in disorders of motivation, with a focus on Substance Use Disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara E Keefer
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Maryland, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States
| | - Utsav Gyawali
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Maryland, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States; Program in Neuroscience, University of Maryland, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States
| | - Donna J Calu
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Maryland, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States; Program in Neuroscience, University of Maryland, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States.
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15
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Alaux‐Cantin S, Alarcon R, Audegond C, Simon O'Brien E, Martinetti MP, Ahmed SH, Nalpas B, Perney P, Naassila M. Sugar, a powerful substitute for ethanol in ethanol postdependent rats: Relevance for clinical consideration? Addict Biol 2021; 26:e13023. [PMID: 33559189 DOI: 10.1111/adb.13023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/09/2019] [Revised: 01/10/2021] [Accepted: 01/29/2021] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Sugar has been shown to be a powerful substitute for drugs in preclinical studies on addiction. However, the link between sugar intake and alcohol use disorder (AUD) is poorly understood. We assessed the influence of sucrose on ethanol drinking in both nondependent (ND) and dependent (D) Long-Evans rats during acute withdrawal using the postdependent state model. Ethanol (10%-40%) and sucrose (1%-4%) solutions were offered in an operant paradigm either independently or concurrently under ratio schedules of reinforcement. We showed that D rats displayed an enhanced motivation for both 10% ethanol solution (10E) and 4% sucrose solution (4S) as compared with ND rats, and a clear preference for 4S was observed in both groups. During acute withdrawal, D rats showed a strong motivation for 30% ethanol (30E), even when adulterated with quinine, but still preferred 4S despite the fact that a high level of negative reinforcement could be expected. However, when a premix solution (30E4S) was offered concurrently with 4S, the preference for 4S was lost in D animals, which consumed as much premix as 4S, whereas ND animals displayed preference for 4S. Altogether, those results suggest that reinforcing properties of sucrose surpass those of ethanol in D rats under acute withdrawal, which indicates that sugar is a powerful substitute for ethanol. Our results suggest that craving for sugar may be increased in AUD patients during withdrawal and raise the issue of dependence transfer from alcohol to sugar.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stéphanie Alaux‐Cantin
- INSERM UMR1247, Groupe de Recherche sur l'Alcool et les Pharmacodépendances (GRAP) Université de Picardie Jules Verne Amiens France
| | - Régis Alarcon
- Service d'Addictologie Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Caremeau Nîmes France
| | - Clément Audegond
- INSERM UMR1247, Groupe de Recherche sur l'Alcool et les Pharmacodépendances (GRAP) Université de Picardie Jules Verne Amiens France
| | - Emmanuelle Simon O'Brien
- INSERM UMR1247, Groupe de Recherche sur l'Alcool et les Pharmacodépendances (GRAP) Université de Picardie Jules Verne Amiens France
| | - Margaret P. Martinetti
- INSERM UMR1247, Groupe de Recherche sur l'Alcool et les Pharmacodépendances (GRAP) Université de Picardie Jules Verne Amiens France
- Department of Psychology The College of New Jersey Ewing New Jersey USA
| | - Serge H. Ahmed
- Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293 Université de Bordeaux Bordeaux France
| | - Bertrand Nalpas
- Service d'Addictologie Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Caremeau Nîmes France
| | - Pascal Perney
- Service d'Addictologie Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Caremeau Nîmes France
| | - Mickael Naassila
- INSERM UMR1247, Groupe de Recherche sur l'Alcool et les Pharmacodépendances (GRAP) Université de Picardie Jules Verne Amiens France
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16
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Vandaele Y, Lenoir M, Vouillac-Mendoza C, Guillem K, Ahmed SH. Probing the decision-making mechanisms underlying choice between drug and nondrug rewards in rats. eLife 2021; 10:e64993. [PMID: 33900196 PMCID: PMC8075577 DOI: 10.7554/elife.64993] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2020] [Accepted: 04/17/2021] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Delineating the decision-making mechanisms underlying choice between drug and nondrug rewards remains a challenge. This study adopts an original approach to probe these mechanisms by comparing response latencies during sampling versus choice trials. While lengthening of latencies during choice is predicted in a deliberative choice model (DCM), the race-like response competition mechanism postulated by the Sequential choice model (SCM) predicts a shortening of latencies during choice compared to sampling. Here, we tested these predictions by conducting a retrospective analysis of cocaine-versus-saccharin choice experiments conducted in our laboratory. We found that rats engage deliberative decision-making mechanisms after limited training, but adopt a SCM-like response selection mechanism after more extended training, while their behavior is presumably habitual. Thus, the DCM and SCM may not be general models of choice, as initially formulated, but could be dynamically engaged to control choice behavior across early and extended training.
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Affiliation(s)
- Youna Vandaele
- Lausanne University Hospital, Department of PsychiatryPrillySwitzerland
| | - Magalie Lenoir
- Université de Bordeaux, Institut des Maladies NeurodégénérativesBordeauxFrance
- CNRS, Institut des Maladies NeurodégénérativesBordeauxFrance
| | - Caroline Vouillac-Mendoza
- Université de Bordeaux, Institut des Maladies NeurodégénérativesBordeauxFrance
- CNRS, Institut des Maladies NeurodégénérativesBordeauxFrance
| | - Karine Guillem
- Université de Bordeaux, Institut des Maladies NeurodégénérativesBordeauxFrance
- CNRS, Institut des Maladies NeurodégénérativesBordeauxFrance
| | - Serge H Ahmed
- Université de Bordeaux, Institut des Maladies NeurodégénérativesBordeauxFrance
- CNRS, Institut des Maladies NeurodégénérativesBordeauxFrance
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17
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Townsend EA, Schwienteck KL, Robinson HL, Lawson ST, Banks ML. A drug-vs-food "choice" self-administration procedure in rats to investigate pharmacological and environmental mechanisms of substance use disorders. J Neurosci Methods 2021; 354:109110. [PMID: 33705855 DOI: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2021.109110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2020] [Revised: 02/28/2021] [Accepted: 03/03/2021] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Preclinical drug self-administration procedures are commonly used to investigate expression, mechanisms, and treatment of substance use disorders. NEW METHOD The aims were to back-translate an intravenous drug-vs-food choice procedure primarily utilized in monkeys to male and female rats and to develop a surgical method for sustained intravenous catheter patency suitable for long-term drug-choice studies. RESULTS The surgical protocol resulted in a median intravenous jugular catheter patency in male and female rats of 126 days (range: 25-365 days). Drug-vs-food choice was established with opioids (fentanyl and heroin), psychostimulants (cocaine, methamphetamine, and amphetamine), and an opioid/psychostimulant mixture (fentanyl + methamphetamine). The average time from catheter implantation to stable choice behavior across all drugs was 27 sessions (range: 16-44 sessions). Choice behavior stabilized more quickly for cocaine and fentanyl than for other drugs. Manipulations of both environmental variables (e.g., response requirement or food reinforcer magnitude) and pharmacological variables (e.g., extended access drug self-administration or continuous buprenorphine treatment via osmotic pump) significantly shifted opioid-vs-food choice consistent with previous monkey studies. COMPARISON WITH EXISTING METHODS Duration of intravenous catheter patency in rats was suitable for long-term, within-subject drug choice studies. Effects of environmental and pharmacological manipulations in rats confirmed and extended previous results from monkeys. CONCLUSIONS The concordance of behavioral results between rats and monkeys using the present drug-vs-food choice procedure supports its utility to improve our basic understanding of the expression and mechanisms of substance use disorders towards to development of more effective therapeutics.
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Affiliation(s)
- E Andrew Townsend
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, VA, 23298, USA.
| | - Kathryn L Schwienteck
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, VA, 23298, USA
| | - Hannah L Robinson
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, VA, 23298, USA
| | - Stephen T Lawson
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, VA, 23298, USA
| | - Matthew L Banks
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, VA, 23298, USA.
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18
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Canchy L, Girardeau P, Durand A, Vouillac-Mendoza C, Ahmed SH. Pharmacokinetics trumps pharmacodynamics during cocaine choice: a reconciliation with the dopamine hypothesis of addiction. Neuropsychopharmacology 2021; 46:288-296. [PMID: 32731253 PMCID: PMC7853096 DOI: 10.1038/s41386-020-0786-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2020] [Revised: 07/10/2020] [Accepted: 07/24/2020] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
Cocaine is known to increase brain dopamine at supranormal levels in comparison to alternative nondrug rewards. According to the dopamine hypothesis of addiction, this abnormally large dopamine response would explain why cocaine use is initially highly rewarding and addictive. Though resting on solid neuroscientific foundations, this hypothesis has nevertheless proven difficult to reconcile with research on cocaine choice in experimental animals. When facing a choice between an intravenous bolus of cocaine and a nondrug alternative (e.g., sweet water), both delivered immediately after choice, rats do not choose the drug, as would be predicted, but instead develop a strong preference for the nondrug alternative. Here we report evidence that reconciles this finding with the dopamine hypothesis of addiction. First, a systematic literature analysis revealed that the delays of effects of intravenous cocaine on nucleus accumbens dopamine are of the order of tens of seconds and are considerably longer than those of nondrug reward. Second, this was confirmed by measuring response times to cocaine omission during self-administration as a behavioral proxy of these delays. Finally, when the influence of the drug delays was reduced during choice by adding an increasing delay to both the drug and nondrug rewards, rats shifted their choice to cocaine. Overall, this study suggests that cocaine is indeed supranormal in reward magnitude, as postulated by the dopamine hypothesis of addiction, but is less preferred during choice because its pharmacokinetics makes it an inherently more delayed reward than the alternative. Reframing previous drug choice studies in rats as intertemporal choice studies reveals that the discounting effects of delays spare no rewards, including supranormal ones, and that during choice, pharmacokinetics trumps pharmacodynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ludivine Canchy
- Université de Bordeaux, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, 146 rue Léo-Saignat, F-33000, Bordeaux, France
- CNRS, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, 146 rue Léo-Saignat, F-33000, Bordeaux, France
| | - Paul Girardeau
- Université de Bordeaux, UFR des Sciences Odontologiques, 146 rue Léo-Saignat, F-33000, Bordeaux, France
| | - Audrey Durand
- Imetronic®, 156 avenue Jean Jaurès, F-33600, Pessac, France
| | - Caroline Vouillac-Mendoza
- Université de Bordeaux, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, 146 rue Léo-Saignat, F-33000, Bordeaux, France
- CNRS, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, 146 rue Léo-Saignat, F-33000, Bordeaux, France
| | - Serge H Ahmed
- Université de Bordeaux, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, 146 rue Léo-Saignat, F-33000, Bordeaux, France.
- CNRS, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, 146 rue Léo-Saignat, F-33000, Bordeaux, France.
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19
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Chow JJ, Beckmann JS. Remifentanil-food choice follows predictions of relative subjective value. Drug Alcohol Depend 2021; 218:108369. [PMID: 33109461 PMCID: PMC7750270 DOI: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2020.108369] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2020] [Revised: 09/30/2020] [Accepted: 10/13/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Preclinical studies into drug vs. nondrug choice have emerged to better model and investigate the neurobehavioral mechanisms underlying drug preference. Current literature has suggested that drugs of abuse have inherently low value, thus promoting food preference. Herein, we examined remifentanil vs. food choice to test both the relative value hypothesis and the 'direct effects' (pharmacological effects of drugs on alternative reinforcers) hypothesis of opioid preference. METHODS Adult male rats were trained under two choice procedures (controlled vs. uncontrolled reinforcer frequency) for remifentanil vs. food choice. Furthermore, a series of procedural manipulations known to affect drug reinforcement were tested under both choice procedures. Using remifentanil self-administration data, pharmacokinetic profiles were calculated and analyzed to determine if opioid intake was related to opioid preference. RESULTS Both choice procedures produced dose-dependent preference. Moreover, procedural manipulations produced comparable changes in remifentanil preference under both choice procedures. In addition, calculated pharmacokinetic data revealed that preference was dissociable from intake under the controlled reinforcer frequency choice procedure. CONCLUSIONS When compared to the 'direct effects' hypothesis, remifentanil preference was better predicted by the relative value hypothesis, formalized in generalized matching. Use of a controlled reinforcer frequency schedule successfully removed the drug preference-intake confound found in most drug-choice procedures. Importantly, drug preference under the controlled reinforcer frequency schedule remained sensitive to procedural manipulations known to affect drug reinforcement. Thus, given that differential drug intake itself affects neurobiological measurements, future use of controlled reinforcer frequency schedules may help to better isolate the neurobehavioral mechanisms that mediate opioid preference.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan J Chow
- Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, 741 S. Limestone, Lexington, KY, 40536, USA.
| | - Joshua S Beckmann
- Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, 741 S. Limestone, Lexington, KY, 40536, USA.
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20
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Stimulation of muscarinic acetylcholine M 1 receptors reallocates choice between cocaine and an alternative reinforcer. Neuropsychopharmacology 2020; 45:1965-1966. [PMID: 32541906 PMCID: PMC7547686 DOI: 10.1038/s41386-020-0733-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2020] [Accepted: 05/25/2020] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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21
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Shab G, Fultz EK, Page A, Coelho MA, Brewin LW, Stailey N, Brown CN, Bryant CD, Kippin TE, Szumlinski KK. The motivational valence of methamphetamine relates inversely to subsequent methamphetamine self-administration in female C57BL/6J mice. Behav Brain Res 2020; 398:112959. [PMID: 33053382 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2020.112959] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2020] [Revised: 09/21/2020] [Accepted: 10/05/2020] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
Understanding the mechanisms underpinning individual variance in addiction vulnerability requires the development of validated, high-throughput screens. In a prior study of a large sample of male isogenic C57BL/6J mice, the direction and magnitude of methamphetamine (MA)-induced place-conditioning predicts the propensity to acquire oral MA self-administration, as well as the efficacy of MA to serve as a reinforcer. The present study examined whether or not such a predictive relationship also exists in females. Adult C57BL/6J females underwent a 4-day MA place-conditioning paradigm (once daily injections of 2 mg/kg) and were then trained to nose-poke for delivery of a 20 mg/L MA solution under increasing schedules of reinforcement, followed by dose-response testing (5-400 mg/L MA). Akin to males, 53 % of the females exhibited a conditioned place-preference, while 32 % of the mice were MA-neutral and 15 % exhibited a conditioned place-aversion. However, unlike males, the place-conditioning phenotype did not transfer to MA-reinforced nose-poking behavior under operant-conditioning procedures, with 400 mg/L MA intake being inversely correlated place-conditioning. While only one MA-conditioning dose has been assayed to date, these data indicate that sex does not significantly shift the proportion of C57BL/6J mice that perceive MA's interoceptive effects as positive, neutral or aversive. However, a sex difference appears to exist regarding the predictive relationship between the motivational valence of MA and subsequent drug-taking behavior; females exhibit MA-taking behavior and reinforcement, despite their initial perception of the stimulant interoceptive effects as positive, neutral or negative.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gabriella Shab
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
| | - Elissa K Fultz
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
| | - Ariana Page
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
| | - Michal A Coelho
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
| | - Lindsey W Brewin
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
| | - Nicholas Stailey
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
| | - Chelsea N Brown
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
| | - Camron D Bryant
- Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics and Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Tod E Kippin
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA; Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology and the Neuroscience Research Institute, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA; Institute for Collaborative Biology, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
| | - Karen K Szumlinski
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA; Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology and the Neuroscience Research Institute, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA.
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22
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Vandaele Y, Guillem K, Ahmed SH. Habitual Preference for the Nondrug Reward in a Drug Choice Setting. Front Behav Neurosci 2020; 14:78. [PMID: 32523517 PMCID: PMC7261826 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2020.00078] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2020] [Accepted: 04/28/2020] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
For adaptive and efficient decision making, it must be possible to select between habitual alternative courses of action. However, research in rodents suggests that, even in the context of simple decision-making, choice behavior remains goal-directed. In contrast, we recently found that during discrete trial choice between cocaine and water, water-restricted rats preferred water and this preference was habitual and inflexible (i.e., resistant to water devaluation by satiation). Here we sought to test the reproducibility and generality of this surprising finding by assessing habitual control of preference for saccharin over cocaine in non-restricted rats. Specifically, after the acquisition of preference for saccharin, saccharin was devalued and concurrent responding for both options was measured under extinction. As expected, rats responded more for saccharin than for cocaine during extinction, but this difference was unaffected by saccharin devaluation. Together with our previous research, this result indicates that preference for nondrug alternatives over cocaine is under habitual control, even under conditions that normally support goal-directed control of choice between nondrug options. The possible reasons for this difference are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Youna Vandaele
- Department of Psychiatry, Center for Psychiatric Neuroscience, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Karine Guillem
- Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
- CNRS, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, Bordeaux, France
| | - Serge H. Ahmed
- Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
- CNRS, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, Bordeaux, France
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23
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Guillem K, Ahmed SH. Reorganization of theta phase-locking in the orbitofrontal cortex drives cocaine choice under the influence. Sci Rep 2020; 10:8041. [PMID: 32415278 PMCID: PMC7228935 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-64962-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2020] [Accepted: 04/22/2020] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Cortical theta oscillations of neuronal activity are a fundamental mechanism driving goal-directed behavior. We previously identified in the rat orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) a neuronal correlate of individual preferences between cocaine use and an alternative nondrug reward (i.e. saccharin). Whether theta oscillations are also associated with choice behavior between a drug and a nondrug reward remains unknown. Here we investigated the temporal structure between single unit activity and theta band oscillations (4-12 Hz) in the OFC of rats choosing between cocaine and saccharin. First, we found that the relative amplitude of theta oscillations is associated with subjective value and preference between two rewards. Second, OFC phase-locked neurons fired on opposite phase of the theta oscillation during saccharin and cocaine rewards, suggesting the existence of two separable neuronal assemblies. Finally, the pharmacological influence of cocaine at the moment of choice altered both theta band power and theta phase-locking in the OFC. That is, this drug influence shifted spike-phase relative to theta cycle and decreased the synchronization of OFC neurons relative to the theta oscillation. Overall, this study indicates that the reorganization of theta phase-locking under the influence of cocaine biases OFC neuronal assemblies in favor of cocaine choice and at the expense of a normally preferred alternative, a neuronal change that may contribute to drug preference in cocaine addiction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karine Guillem
- Université de Bordeaux, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, 146 rue Léo-Saignat, F-33000, Bordeaux, France. .,CNRS, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, 146 rue Léo-Saignat, F-33000, Bordeaux, France.
| | - Serge H Ahmed
- Université de Bordeaux, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, 146 rue Léo-Saignat, F-33000, Bordeaux, France.,CNRS, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, 146 rue Léo-Saignat, F-33000, Bordeaux, France
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24
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Gunawan T, Hachiga Y, Tripoli CS, Silberberg A, Kearns DN. Heroin choice depends on income level and economy type. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2020; 237:1447-1457. [PMID: 31993695 PMCID: PMC7196508 DOI: 10.1007/s00213-020-05471-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2019] [Accepted: 01/21/2020] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
RATIONALE In a previous study, investigating choice between heroin and a non-drug alternative in animals and reductions in income (i.e., choices/day) caused the percentage of income spent on heroin to progressively decrease. In contrast, another study found that humans with opioid use disorder spent the majority of their income on heroin even though they had little income. Comparison of these two studies suggests that the seemingly conflicting results could be explained by differences in the underlying economy types of the choice alternatives. OBJECTIVE The present experiment tested the hypothesis that the effect of income changes on choice between heroin and a non-drug alternative depends on economy type. METHODS Rats chose between heroin and saccharin under three income levels. For the Closed group, the choice session was the only opportunity to obtain these reinforcers. For the Heroin Open group and the Saccharin Open group, choice sessions were followed by 3-h periods of unlimited access to heroin or saccharin, respectively. RESULTS As income decreased, the Closed and Heroin Open groups, but not the Saccharin Open group, spent an increasingly greater percentage of income on saccharin than on heroin. The Saccharin Open group, compared to the other groups, spent a greater percentage of income on heroin as income decreased. CONCLUSIONS Results confirm that the effects of income and economy type can interact and this may explain the apparently discrepant results of earlier studies. More generally, findings suggest that situations where heroin choice has little consequence for consumption of non-drug alternatives may promote heroin use.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tommy Gunawan
- Psychology Department, American University, 4400 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC, 20016, USA
| | - Yosuke Hachiga
- Center for Decision Research, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Christopher S Tripoli
- Psychology Department, American University, 4400 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC, 20016, USA
| | - Alan Silberberg
- Psychology Department, American University, 4400 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC, 20016, USA
| | - David N Kearns
- Psychology Department, American University, 4400 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC, 20016, USA.
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Ahmed SH, Badiani A, Miczek KA, Müller CP. Non-pharmacological factors that determine drug use and addiction. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2020; 110:3-27. [PMID: 30179633 PMCID: PMC6395570 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2018.08.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2018] [Revised: 07/26/2018] [Accepted: 08/28/2018] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
Based on their pharmacological properties, psychoactive drugs are supposed to take control of the natural reward system to finally drive compulsory drug seeking and consumption. However, psychoactive drugs are not used in an arbitrary way as pure pharmacological reinforcement would suggest, but rather in a highly specific manner depending on non-pharmacological factors. While pharmacological effects of psychoactive drugs are well studied, neurobiological mechanisms of non-pharmacological factors are less well understood. Here we review the emerging neurobiological mechanisms beyond pharmacological reinforcement which determine drug effects and use frequency. Important progress was made on the understanding of how the character of an environment and social stress determine drug self-administration. This is expanded by new evidence on how behavioral alternatives and opportunities for drug instrumentalization generate different patterns of drug choice. Emerging evidence suggests that the neurobiology of non-pharmacological factors strongly determines pharmacological and behavioral drug action and may, thus, give rise for an expanded system's approach of psychoactive drug use and addiction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Serge H Ahmed
- Université de Bordeaux, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, 146 rue Léo-Saignat, F-33000 Bordeaux, France; CNRS, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, 146 rue Léo-Saignat, F-33000 Bordeaux, France
| | - Aldo Badiani
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy; Sussex Addiction Research and Intervention Centre (SARIC), School of Psychology, University of Sussex, BN1 9RH Brighton, UK
| | - Klaus A Miczek
- Psychology Department, Tufts University, Bacon Hall, 530 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA 02155, USA; Department of Neuroscience, Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences, Boston, MA 02111, USA
| | - Christian P Müller
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Clinic, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Schwabachanlage 6, 91054 Erlangen, Germany.
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26
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Montanari C, Giorla E, Pelloux Y, Baunez C. Subthalamic nucleus mediates the modulation on cocaine self-administration induced by ultrasonic vocalization playback in rats. Addict Biol 2020; 25:e12710. [PMID: 30592347 DOI: 10.1111/adb.12710] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2018] [Revised: 11/21/2018] [Accepted: 11/27/2018] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Drug intake is known to be under the influence of social context. We have recently shown that presence of a peer influences drug intake in both rats and humans. Whether or not social acoustic communications between the peers play a role during cocaine or sucrose self-administration (SA) was investigated here using playback of ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) at 50 and 22 kHz, conveying, respectively, positive and negative internal affective states in adult rats. To assess the neurobiological substrate of a potential USV influence on drug and food intake, we tested the effects of subthalamic nucleus (STN) lesions, given its role in emotional and motivational processes. In sham-control rats, playback of USV associated with positive affective states induced long-term decreased cocaine consumption, while USV associated with negative affective states induced short-term increase. Interestingly, no effect of USV playback was observed on sucrose intake, whatever the frequency. STN lesions abolished the influence of USV on cocaine intake, highlighting the influence of STN in emotional processes induced by USV emitted by a peer. These results show how acoustic social communication is important to regulate drug intake in rats and how STN modulation could interfere with addiction processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christian Montanari
- Institut de Neurosciences de la TimoneUMR 7289 CNRS and Aix‐Marseille Université Marseille France
| | - Elodie Giorla
- Institut de Neurosciences de la TimoneUMR 7289 CNRS and Aix‐Marseille Université Marseille France
| | - Yann Pelloux
- Institut de Neurosciences de la TimoneUMR 7289 CNRS and Aix‐Marseille Université Marseille France
| | - Christelle Baunez
- Institut de Neurosciences de la TimoneUMR 7289 CNRS and Aix‐Marseille Université Marseille France
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27
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Deroche-Gamonet V. The relevance of animal models of addiction. Addiction 2020; 115:16-17. [PMID: 31701597 DOI: 10.1111/add.14821] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2019] [Accepted: 09/10/2019] [Indexed: 01/16/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Véronique Deroche-Gamonet
- Psychobiology of Drug Addiction, Inserm U1215, Neurocenter Magendie, Bordeaux, France.,Psychobiology of Drug Addiction, University of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
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28
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Gunawan T, Tripoli CS, Silberberg A, Kearns DN. The effect of economy type on heroin and saccharin essential value. Exp Clin Psychopharmacol 2019; 27:598-608. [PMID: 30896241 PMCID: PMC6754797 DOI: 10.1037/pha0000277] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
According to behavioral economics, reinforcer value should be lower in an open economy than in a closed economy. An animal model was used to determine how economy type affected the value of heroin and saccharin. In a first phase, separate groups of rats worked for heroin or saccharin. The price of these reinforcers increased over sessions. For rats in the open heroin or open saccharin economies, the work period of each session was followed by a postwork period where a cheaper source of heroin or saccharin was available for three hours. For rats in the closed economies, the work period was their only opportunity to obtain the reinforcer. Rats in the open saccharin economy worked less hard to defend consumption of saccharin as price increased than rats in the closed saccharin economy. That is, opening the saccharin economy reduced its essential value. In contrast, economy type had no effect on heroin's essential value. In a second phase, rats were allowed to choose between heroin and saccharin. The majority of rats strongly preferred saccharin over heroin regardless of economy type. The finding that economy type changed the essential value of saccharin, but not heroin, adds to previous findings suggesting that the value of drug reinforcers is unaffected by future drug availability. The difference in effect of economy type on drug versus nondrug reinforcers could be relevant to addiction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
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29
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Townsend EA, Negus SS, Caine SB, Thomsen M, Banks ML. Sex differences in opioid reinforcement under a fentanyl vs. food choice procedure in rats. Neuropsychopharmacology 2019; 44:2022-2029. [PMID: 30818323 PMCID: PMC6898628 DOI: 10.1038/s41386-019-0356-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2018] [Revised: 02/02/2019] [Accepted: 02/21/2019] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
Clinical evidence suggest that men are more sensitive than women to the abuse-related effects of mu-opioid agonists. In contrast, preclinical studies suggest the opposite sex difference. The aim of the present study was to clarify this discrepancy using a fentanyl vs. diluted Ensure® choice procedure to assess sex differences in opioid reinforcement. Sex differences in intravenous (IV) fentanyl self-administration were examined under a fixed-ratio (FR5) schedule, a multi-day progressive-ratio (PR) schedule for behavioral economic analysis, and a concurrent (choice) schedule of fentanyl and diluted Ensure® reinforcement in Sprague-Dawley male and female rats. The fentanyl dose-effect function under the FR5 schedule was significantly shifted upward in females compared to males. Similarly, the reinforcing effectiveness of both fentanyl (3.2 and 10 µg/kg per injection, IV) and diluted Ensure® (18 and 56%) were greater in females than in males as assessed using behavioral economic analysis, irrespective of dose or concentration. However, under a fentanyl vs. foodchoice procedure, males chose 3.2 µg/kg per injection fentanyl injections over 18%, but not 56%, diluted Ensure® at a higher percentage compared to females. Overall, these results suggest that the expression of sex differences in opioid reinforcement depends upon the schedule of reinforcement and that preclinical opioid vs. food choice procedures provide a translationally relevant measure (i.e., behavioral allocation) consistent with the direction of sex differences reported in the clinical literature.
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Affiliation(s)
- E. Andrew Townsend
- 0000 0004 0458 8737grid.224260.0Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA USA
| | - S. Stevens Negus
- 0000 0004 0458 8737grid.224260.0Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA USA
| | - S. Barak Caine
- 0000 0000 8795 072Xgrid.240206.2McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA USA
| | - Morgane Thomsen
- 0000 0004 0631 4836grid.466916.aPsychiatric Center Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Matthew L. Banks
- 0000 0004 0458 8737grid.224260.0Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA USA
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30
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Beckmann JS, Chow JJ, Hutsell BA. Cocaine-associated decision-making: Toward isolating preference. Neuropharmacology 2019; 153:142-152. [PMID: 30905612 PMCID: PMC7716654 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2019.03.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2018] [Revised: 03/12/2019] [Accepted: 03/18/2019] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Ever-increasing evidence suggests that substance use disorder is mediated by decision-making processes, and as such, providing nondrug alternatives can shift maladaptive preferences away from drug reinforcers, such as cocaine. Of note, a recent hypothesis suggests that preference for cocaine is simply a byproduct of cocaine intake, such that the 'direct' effects of cocaine weaken the impact of non-drug alternatives while measuring choice. Conversely, existing quantitative theories of decision-making suggest preference is determined by various dimensions of concurrent reinforcers that in turn determine the relative value of available alternatives. Toward teasing apart the conflicting theories above, we developed a novel drug-choice procedure to control for reinforcer frequency and magnitude (two reinforcer dimensions well known to influence preference) that consequently controls for overall cocaine intake. As predicted by quantitative choice theory, results suggest that cocaine intake and preference are dissociable while measuring choice, with reinforcer frequency and magnitude having independent influence on the relative value of choice alternatives. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the choice procedure is sensitive to various manipulations known to alter cocaine reinforcement, all while keeping cocaine intake constant. Finally, the results point to the process of economic substitution as an important avenue of future neurobehavioral investigation toward the improvement of behavioral and pharmacological therapies for substance use disorders. Overall, the proposed choice procedure will allow for improved isolation of the neurobehavioral processes that mediate drug-associated decision-making in future studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joshua S Beckmann
- Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, 741 S. Limestone, Lexington, KY, 40536, USA.
| | - Jonathan J Chow
- Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, 741 S. Limestone, Lexington, KY, 40536, USA.
| | - Blake A Hutsell
- Department of Psychology, Eastern Carolina University, Rawl 222, Mail Stop 565, Greenville, NC, 27858, USA.
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31
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Guillem K, Ahmed SH. Preference for Cocaine is Represented in the Orbitofrontal Cortex by an Increased Proportion of Cocaine Use-Coding Neurons. Cereb Cortex 2019; 28:819-832. [PMID: 28057724 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhw398] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2016] [Accepted: 12/13/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Cocaine addiction is a harmful preference for drug use over and at the expense of other nondrug-related activities. Here we identify in the rat orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) a mechanism that explains individual preferences between cocaine use and an alternative, nondrug action. OFC neuronal activity was recorded while rats performed each of these 2 actions separately or while they chose between them. First, we found that these actions are encoded by 2 nonoverlapping neuronal populations and that the relative size of the cocaine population represented individual preferences. A larger relative size was only observed in cocaine-preferring individuals. Second, OFC neurons encoding a given individual's preferred action progressively fired more than other action-coding neurons few seconds before the preferred action was actually chosen, suggesting a prechoice neuronal competition for action selection. In cocaine-preferring rats, this manifested by a prechoice ramping-up activity in favor of the cocaine population. Finally, pharmacological manipulation of prechoice activity in favor of the cocaine population caused nondrug-preferring rats to shift their choice to cocaine. Overall, this study suggests that an individual preference for cocaine is represented in the OFC by a population size bias that systematically advantages cocaine use-coding neurons during prechoice competition for action selection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karine Guillem
- Université de Bordeaux, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, 146 rue Léo-Saignat, F-33000 Bordeaux, France.,CNRS, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, 146 rue Léo-Saignat, F-33000 Bordeaux, France
| | - Serge H Ahmed
- Université de Bordeaux, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, 146 rue Léo-Saignat, F-33000 Bordeaux, France.,CNRS, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, 146 rue Léo-Saignat, F-33000 Bordeaux, France
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32
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Inflexible habitual decision-making during choice between cocaine and a nondrug alternative. Transl Psychiatry 2019; 9:109. [PMID: 30842406 PMCID: PMC6403316 DOI: 10.1038/s41398-019-0445-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2018] [Revised: 02/12/2019] [Accepted: 02/16/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
The concept of compulsive cocaine-seeking habits is difficult to reconcile with other evidence showing that humans and even rats remain able to shift their choice away from the drug and toward an alternative nondrug reward, when available. This paradox could dissolve if preference for the nondrug option reflected in fact inflexible habitual decision-making (i.e., fixed in a habitual control mode, with no return to a goal-directed control mode). Previous research in rats has shown that prior drug use can favor habit formation, but whether the resulting habits are inflexible or not is largely unknown. Here we addressed this question by manipulating the value of water in rats that chose between water and cocaine in a discrete-trials procedure. Rats preferred water when thirsty and maintained this preference despite water devaluation by satiation. Only with repeated daily testing under water satiation did they progressively reverse their preference toward cocaine. Additional evidence showed that this progressive reversal of preference reflected in fact new interoceptive discrimination learning. Overall, this study suggests that rats seem to be stuck in a habitual decision-making mode, unable to return to a goal-directed mode upon experiencing a change in options value. It also reveals that inflexible decision-making does not necessarily promote drug choice, but can also under some circumstances favor abstinence.
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33
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Siciliano CA, Tye KM. Leveraging calcium imaging to illuminate circuit dysfunction in addiction. Alcohol 2019; 74:47-63. [PMID: 30470589 PMCID: PMC7575247 DOI: 10.1016/j.alcohol.2018.05.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2018] [Revised: 05/08/2018] [Accepted: 05/28/2018] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
Alcohol and drug use can dysregulate neural circuit function to produce a wide range of neuropsychiatric disorders, including addiction. To understand the neural circuit computations that mediate behavior, and how substances of abuse may transform them, we must first be able to observe the activity of circuits. While many techniques have been utilized to measure activity in specific brain regions, these regions are made up of heterogeneous sub-populations, and assessing activity from neuronal populations of interest has been an ongoing challenge. To fully understand how neural circuits mediate addiction-related behavior, we must be able to reveal the cellular granularity within brain regions and circuits by overlaying functional information with the genetic and anatomical identity of the cells involved. The development of genetically encoded calcium indicators, which can be targeted to populations of interest, allows for in vivo visualization of calcium dynamics, a proxy for neuronal activity, thus providing an avenue for real-time assessment of activity in genetically and anatomically defined populations during behavior. Here, we highlight recent advances in calcium imaging technology, compare the current technology with other state-of-the-art approaches for in vivo monitoring of neural activity, and discuss the strengths, limitations, and practical concerns for observing neural circuit activity in preclinical addiction models.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cody A Siciliano
- The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States.
| | - Kay M Tye
- The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States; The Salk Institute for Biological Sciences, 10010 N Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, United States.
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34
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Bickel WK, Crabbe JC, Sher KJ. What Is Addiction? How Can Animal and Human Research Be Used to Advance Research, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Alcohol and Other Substance Use Disorders? Alcohol Clin Exp Res 2019; 43:6-21. [PMID: 30371956 PMCID: PMC6445393 DOI: 10.1111/acer.13912] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2017] [Accepted: 10/16/2018] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
The current article highlights key issues in defining, studying, and treating addiction, a concept related to but distinct from substance use disorders. The discussion is based upon a roundtable discussion at the 2017 annual meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism where Warren K. Bickel and John C. Crabbe were charged with answering a range of questions posed by Kenneth J. Sher. All the presenters highlighted a number of central concerns for those interested in assessing and treating addiction as well as those seeking to conduct basic preclinical research that is amenable to meaningful translation to the human condition. In addition, the discussion illustrated both the power and limitations of using any single theory to explain multiple phenomena subsumed under the rubric of addiction. Among the major issues examined were the important differences between traditional diagnostic approaches and current concepts of addiction, the difficulty of modeling key aspects of human addiction in nonhuman animals, key aspects of addiction that have, to date, received little empirical attention, and the importance of thinking of recovery as a phenomenon that possibly involves processes distinct from those undergirding the development and maintenance of addiction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Warren K Bickel
- Addiction Recovery Research Center, Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, Roanoke, Virginia
| | | | - Kenneth J Sher
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri
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35
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Ahmed SH. Trying to make sense of rodents' drug choice behavior. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 2018; 87:3-10. [PMID: 28965843 DOI: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2017.09.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2017] [Revised: 09/22/2017] [Accepted: 09/26/2017] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Since the first experimental hint for the existence of "an actual desire or striving for the drug" in nonhuman animals by Sidney Spragg in the late 1930s, much effort has been expended by lab researchers to try to model in a valid manner the key behavioral aspects and signs of addiction in animals, typically in rodents (i.e., mainly rats and, to a lesser extent, mice). Despite much advances, there still remains a lingering doubt about the disordered status of drug use in rodents. This is mainly because drug use occurs in a particular setting where animals have access to a drug for self-administration but without access to other valuable behavioral options that could compete with and divert from drug use. Here I review evidence showing that enriching the drug setting with other behavioral options can dramatically influence the pattern of drug choices in rodents. Overall, access to other options during drug access can divert the vast majority of rats from continued drug use. Only few individuals continue to engage in drug use despite access to and at the expense of other options. However, there exist certain high-risk settings in which virtually all animals are vulnerable to develop a harmful pattern of exclusive drug use that can even become fatal in the long run if not discontinued by an outside intervention. Paradoxically, it appears that the behavioral trait that is hypothesized to uniquely render rodents vulnerable to the latter settings (i.e., a narrow focus on the local, current choice, with no consideration of the global pattern of choice) would also protect most of them from using drugs in other choice settings. I conclude with an attempt to make sense of this peculiar setting-specific behavior and with some general propositions for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Serge H Ahmed
- Université de Bordeaux, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, 146 rue Léo-Saignat, F-33000 Bordeaux, France; CNRS, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, 146 rue Léo-Saignat, F-33000 Bordeaux, France.
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36
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Guillem K, Ahmed SH. A neuronal population code for resemblance between drug and nondrug reward outcomes in the orbitofrontal cortex. Brain Struct Funct 2018; 224:883-890. [PMID: 30539287 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-018-1809-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2018] [Accepted: 12/01/2018] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is implicated in choice and decision-making in both human and non-human animals. We previously identified in the rat OFC a mechanism that influences individual drug choices and preferences between a drug and a nondrug (i.e., sweet) outcome that is common across different types of drugs (cocaine and heroin). Importantly, this research also revealed some intriguing drug-specific differences. Notably, the size of non-selective OFC neurons that indiscriminately encode both the drug and the sweet outcomes varies as a function of the drug outcome available (cocaine or heroin). Here we tested the hypothesis that the relative size of the non-selective OFC population somehow represents the degree of resemblance between the drug and nondrug reward outcomes. We recorded OFC neuronal activity in vivo in the same individual rats while they were choosing between two outcomes with varying degrees of resemblance: high (two concentrations of sweet), intermediate (sweet versus heroin) and low (sweet versus cocaine). We found that the percentage of non-selective OFC neurons dramatically increased with the degree of resemblance between choice outcomes, from 26 to 62%. Overall, these findings reveal the existence of a neuronal population code for resemblance between different kinds of choice outcomes in the OFC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karine Guillem
- Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, Université de Bordeaux, 146 rue Léo-Saignat, 33000, Bordeaux, France. .,Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, CNRS, 146 rue Léo-Saignat, 33000, Bordeaux, France. .,Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR CNRS 5293, Université de Bordeaux, 146 rue Léo Saignât, 33076, Bordeaux, France.
| | - Serge H Ahmed
- Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, Université de Bordeaux, 146 rue Léo-Saignat, 33000, Bordeaux, France. .,Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, CNRS, 146 rue Léo-Saignat, 33000, Bordeaux, France. .,Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR CNRS 5293, Université de Bordeaux, 146 rue Léo Saignât, 33076, Bordeaux, France.
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37
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Sweis BM, Thomas MJ, Redish AD. Beyond simple tests of value: measuring addiction as a heterogeneous disease of computation-specific valuation processes. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2018; 25:501-512. [PMID: 30115772 PMCID: PMC6097760 DOI: 10.1101/lm.047795.118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2018] [Accepted: 07/06/2018] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Addiction is considered to be a neurobiological disorder of learning and memory because addiction is capable of producing lasting changes in the brain. Recovering addicts chronically struggle with making poor decisions that ultimately lead to relapse, suggesting a view of addiction also as a neurobiological disorder of decision-making information processing. How the brain makes decisions depends on how decision-making processes access information stored as memories in the brain. Advancements in circuit-dissection tools and recent theories in neuroeconomics suggest that neurally dissociable valuation processes access distinct memories differently, and thus are uniquely susceptible as the brain changes during addiction. If addiction is to be considered a neurobiological disorder of memory, and thus decision-making, the heterogeneity with which information is both stored and processed must be taken into account in addiction studies. Addiction etiology can vary widely from person to person. We propose that addiction is not a single disease, nor simply a disorder of learning and memory, but rather a collection of symptoms of heterogeneous neurobiological diseases of distinct circuit-computation-specific decision-making processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brian M Sweis
- Graduate Program in Neuroscience and Medical Scientist Training Program, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA.,Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
| | - Mark J Thomas
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA.,Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
| | - A David Redish
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
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38
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Freese L, Durand A, Guillem K, Ahmed SH. Pre-trial cocaine biases choice toward cocaine through suppression of the nondrug option. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 2018; 173:65-73. [PMID: 30056175 DOI: 10.1016/j.pbb.2018.07.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2018] [Revised: 07/25/2018] [Accepted: 07/26/2018] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
Being under the influence during choice between drug and nondrug options can have a dramatic effect on choice outcomes. When rats face a choice between cocaine and sweet water and are not under the influence, they prefer sweet water. In contrast, when they are under the influence of cocaine, this causes them to shift their choice to cocaine nearly exclusively. Here we sought to characterize the behavioral mechanisms underlying the influence of cocaine on choice. In theory, rats under the influence of cocaine should be in a mixed motivational state, at least temporarily, with both their motivation for cocaine and their motivation for the nondrug option suppressed by the drug satiating and anorexic effects of cocaine, respectively. For this mixed state to shift choice to cocaine, the satiated motivation for cocaine should recover before the suppressed motivation for the preferred nondrug option. The goal of the present study was to test this prediction in rats that expressed a preference for sweet water after extended access to cocaine self-administration. We measured their choice and response latencies to each option after pre-trial, passive administration of cocaine to estimate the duration of its drug satiating and anorexic effects. As expected, pre-trial cocaine caused most rats to shift their choice to cocaine. Though this shift was not simply due to a longer latency to respond for sweet water than for cocaine after pre-trial cocaine, it nevertheless occurred while rats' motivation for the nondrug option was still partially suppressed. Thus, cocaine seems to bias choice toward more cocaine mainly via suppression of the nondrug option.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luana Freese
- Laboratory of Neuropsychopharmacology, Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre (UFCSPA), Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
| | - Audrey Durand
- Université de Bordeaux, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, 146 rue Léo-Saignat, F-33000 Bordeaux, France; CNRS, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, 146 rue Léo-Saignat, F-33000 Bordeaux, France
| | - Karine Guillem
- Université de Bordeaux, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, 146 rue Léo-Saignat, F-33000 Bordeaux, France; CNRS, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, 146 rue Léo-Saignat, F-33000 Bordeaux, France
| | - Serge H Ahmed
- Université de Bordeaux, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, 146 rue Léo-Saignat, F-33000 Bordeaux, France; CNRS, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, 146 rue Léo-Saignat, F-33000 Bordeaux, France.
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Guillem K, Brenot V, Durand A, Ahmed SH. Neuronal representation of individual heroin choices in the orbitofrontal cortex. Addict Biol 2018; 23:880-888. [PMID: 28703355 DOI: 10.1111/adb.12536] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2017] [Revised: 05/12/2017] [Accepted: 06/21/2017] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Drug addiction is a harmful preference for drug use over and at the expense of other non-drug-related activities. We previously identified in the rat orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) a mechanism that influences individual preferences between cocaine use and an alternative action rewarded by a non-drug reward (i.e. sweet water). Here, we sought to test the generality of this mechanism to a different addictive drug, heroin. OFC neuronal activity was recorded while rats responded for heroin or the alternative non-drug reward separately or while they chose between the two. First, we found that heroin-rewarded and sweet water-rewarded actions were encoded by two non-overlapping OFC neuronal populations and that the relative size of the heroin population represented individual drug choices. Second, OFC neurons encoding the preferred action-which was the non-drug action in the large majority of individuals-progressively fired more than non-preferred action-coding neurons 1 second after the onset of choice trials and around 1 second before the preferred action was actually chosen, suggesting a pre-choice neuronal competition for action selection. Together with a previous study on cocaine choice, the present study on heroin choice reveals important commonalities in how OFC neurons encode individual drug choices and preferences across different classes of drugs. It also reveals some drug-specific differences in OFC encoding activity. Notably, the proportion of neurons that non-selectively encode both the drug and the non-drug reward was higher when the drug was heroin (present study) than when it was cocaine (previous study). We will discuss the potential functional significance of these commonalities and differences in OFC neuronal activity across different drugs for understanding drug choice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karine Guillem
- Université de Bordeaux; Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives; France
- CNRS; Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives; France
| | - Viridiana Brenot
- Université de Bordeaux; Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives; France
| | - Audrey Durand
- Université de Bordeaux; Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives; France
- CNRS; Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives; France
| | - Serge H. Ahmed
- Université de Bordeaux; Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives; France
- CNRS; Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives; France
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Ahmed SH. Individual decision-making in the causal pathway to addiction: contributions and limitations of rodent models. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 2018; 164:22-31. [DOI: 10.1016/j.pbb.2017.07.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2017] [Revised: 06/16/2017] [Accepted: 07/10/2017] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
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Kearns DN, Kim JS, Tunstall BJ, Silberberg A. Essential values of cocaine and non-drug alternatives predict the choice between them. Addict Biol 2017; 22:1501-1514. [PMID: 27623729 DOI: 10.1111/adb.12450] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2016] [Revised: 07/26/2016] [Accepted: 08/14/2016] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
This study investigated the relationship between reinforcer value and choice between cocaine and two non-drug alternative reinforcers in rats. The essential value (EV, a behavioral economic measure based on elasticity of demand) of intravenous cocaine and food (Experiment 1) or saccharin (Experiment 2) was determined in the first phase of each experiment. Food had higher EV than cocaine, whereas the EVs of cocaine and saccharin did not differ. In the second phase of each experiment, rats were allowed to make mutually exclusive choices between cocaine and the non-drug alternative reinforcer. The main findings were that the EV of cocaine was a positive predictor of cocaine preference and the EV of food or saccharin was a negative predictor of cocaine preference. An analysis of within-session patterns of choice behavior revealed sequential dependencies, whereby rats were more likely to choose cocaine on a particular trial after having chosen the non-drug alternative on previous trials. When the time between choices was increased, these sequential dependencies disappeared. The results of these experiments are consistent with the suggestion that addiction-like behavior involves both overvaluation of drug reinforcers and undervaluation of non-drug reinforcers.
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Affiliation(s)
- David N. Kearns
- Psychology Department; American University; Washington DC USA
| | - Jung S. Kim
- Psychology Department; American University; Washington DC USA
| | - Brendan J. Tunstall
- Intramural Research Program; National Institute on Drug Abuse; Baltimore MD USA
| | - Alan Silberberg
- Psychology Department; American University; Washington DC USA
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Cross-talk between the epigenome and neural circuits in drug addiction. PROGRESS IN BRAIN RESEARCH 2017; 235:19-63. [PMID: 29054289 DOI: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2017.08.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Drug addiction is a behavioral disorder characterized by dysregulated learning about drugs and associated cues that result in compulsive drug seeking and relapse. Learning about drug rewards and predictive cues is a complex process controlled by a computational network of neural connections interacting with transcriptional and molecular mechanisms within each cell to precisely guide behavior. The interplay between rapid, temporally specific neuronal activation, and longer-term changes in transcription is of critical importance in the expression of appropriate, or in the case of drug addiction, inappropriate behaviors. Thus, these factors and their interactions must be considered together, especially in the context of treatment. Understanding the complex interplay between epigenetic gene regulation and circuit connectivity will allow us to formulate novel therapies to normalize maladaptive reward behaviors, with a goal of modulating addictive behaviors, while leaving natural reward-associated behavior unaffected.
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Abstract
BACKGROUND Several recent studies have investigated the choice between heroin and a non-drug alternative reinforcer in rats. A common finding in these studies is that there are large individual differences in preference, with some rats preferring heroin and some preferring the non-drug alternative. The primary goal of the present study was to determine whether individual differences in how heroin or saccharin is valued, based on demand analysis, predicts choice. METHODS Rats lever-pressed for heroin infusions and saccharin reinforcers on fixed-ratio schedules. The essential value of each reinforcer was obtained from resulting demand curves. Rats were then trained on a mutually exclusive choice procedure where pressing one lever resulted in heroin and pressing another resulted in saccharin. After seven sessions of increased access to heroin or saccharin, rats were reexposed to the demand and choice procedures. RESULTS Demand for heroin was more elastic than demand for saccharin (i.e., heroin had lower essential value than saccharin). When allowed to choose, most rats preferred saccharin. The essential value of heroin, but not saccharin, predicted preference. The essential value of both heroin and saccharin increased following a week of increased access to heroin, but similar saccharin exposure had no effect on essential value. Preference was unchanged after increased access to either reinforcer. CONCLUSION Heroin-preferring rats differed from saccharin-preferring rats in how they valued heroin, but not saccharin. To the extent that choice models addiction-related behavior, these results suggest that overvaluation of opioids specifically, rather than undervaluation of non-drug alternatives, could identify susceptible individuals.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jung S. Kim
- Psychology Department, American University, Washington, DC
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Abstract
An increasing emphasis has been placed on the development and use of animal models of addiction that capture defining features of human drug addiction, including escalation/binge drug use, enhanced motivation for the drug, preference for the drug over other reward options, use despite negative consequences, and enhanced drug-seeking/relapse vulnerability. The need to examine behavior in both males and females has also become apparent given evidence demonstrating that the addiction process occurs differently in males and females. This review discusses the procedures that are used to model features of addiction in animals, as well as factors that influence their development. Individual differences are also discussed, with a particular focus on sex differences. While no one procedure consistently produces all characteristics, different models have been developed to focus on certain characteristics. A history of escalating/binge patterns of use appears to be critical for producing other features characteristic of addiction, including an enhanced motivation for the drug, enhanced drug seeking, and use despite negative consequences. These characteristics tend to emerge over abstinence, and appear to increase rather than decrease in magnitude over time. In females, these characteristics develop sooner during abstinence and/or following less drug exposure as compared to males, and for psychostimulant addiction, may require estradiol. Although preference for the drug over other reward options has been demonstrated in non-human primates, it has been more difficult to establish in rats. Future research is needed to define the parameters that optimally induce each of these features of addiction in the majority of animals. Such models are essential for advancing our understanding of human drug addiction and its treatment in men and women.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wendy J Lynch
- Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904, USA.
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Venniro M, Zhang M, Shaham Y, Caprioli D. Incubation of Methamphetamine but not Heroin Craving After Voluntary Abstinence in Male and Female Rats. Neuropsychopharmacology 2017; 42:1126-1135. [PMID: 28025975 PMCID: PMC5506794 DOI: 10.1038/npp.2016.287] [Citation(s) in RCA: 93] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2016] [Revised: 12/12/2016] [Accepted: 12/13/2016] [Indexed: 01/20/2023]
Abstract
We recently introduced an animal model of incubation of methamphetamine craving after choice-based voluntary abstinence in male rats. Here we studied the generality of this phenomenon to (1) female rats, and (2) male and female rats with a history of heroin self-administration. We first trained rats to self-administer palatable food pellets for 6 days (6 h per day) for either methamphetamine (0.1 mg/kg/infusion) or heroin (0.1 mg/kg/infusion) for 12 days (6 h/day). We then assessed relapse to drug seeking under extinction conditions after 1 and 21 abstinence days. Between tests, the rats underwent either voluntary abstinence (achieved via a discrete choice procedure between drug and palatable food; 20 trials/day) or home-cage forced abstinence. We found no sex differences in methamphetamine self-administration or in the strong preference for the palatable food over methamphetamine during the choice-based voluntary abstinence. In both sexes, methamphetamine seeking in the relapse tests was higher after 21 days of either voluntary or forced abstinence than after 1 day (incubation of methamphetamine craving). We also found no sex differences in heroin self-administration or the strong preference for the palatable food over heroin during the choice-based voluntary abstinence. However, male and female rats with a history of heroin self-administration showed incubation of heroin craving after forced but not voluntary abstinence. Our results show that incubation of methamphetamine craving after voluntary abstinence generalizes to female rats. Unexpectedly, prolonged voluntary abstinence prevented the emergence of incubation of heroin craving in both sexes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marco Venniro
- Behavioral Neuroscience Research Branch, Intramural Research Program, NIDA, NIH, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Michelle Zhang
- Behavioral Neuroscience Research Branch, Intramural Research Program, NIDA, NIH, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Yavin Shaham
- Behavioral Neuroscience Research Branch, Intramural Research Program, NIDA, NIH, Baltimore, MD, USA,Behavioral Neuroscience Branch, IRP, NIDA, 251 Bayview Boulevard, Suite 200, Baltimore, MD 21044, USA, Tel: 443 740 2723, Fax: 443 740 2727, E-mail: or
| | - Daniele Caprioli
- Behavioral Neuroscience Research Branch, Intramural Research Program, NIDA, NIH, Baltimore, MD, USA,Behavioral Neuroscience Branch, IRP, NIDA, 251 Bayview Boulevard, Suite 200, Baltimore, MD 21044, USA, Tel: 443 740 2723, Fax: 443 740 2727, E-mail: or
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Caprioli D, Venniro M, Zhang M, Bossert JM, Warren BL, Hope BT, Shaham Y. Role of Dorsomedial Striatum Neuronal Ensembles in Incubation of Methamphetamine Craving after Voluntary Abstinence. J Neurosci 2017; 37:1014-1027. [PMID: 28123032 PMCID: PMC5296775 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.3091-16.2016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 102] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2016] [Revised: 11/23/2016] [Accepted: 12/03/2016] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
We recently developed a rat model of incubation of methamphetamine craving after choice-based voluntary abstinence. Here, we studied the role of dorsolateral striatum (DLS) and dorsomedial striatum (DMS) in this incubation. We trained rats to self-administer palatable food pellets (6 d, 6 h/d) and methamphetamine (12 d, 6 h/d). We then assessed relapse to methamphetamine seeking under extinction conditions after 1 and 21 abstinence days. Between tests, the rats underwent voluntary abstinence (using a discrete choice procedure between methamphetamine and food; 20 trials/d) for 19 d. We used in situ hybridization to measure the colabeling of the activity marker Fos with Drd1 and Drd2 in DMS and DLS after the tests. Based on the in situ hybridization colabeling results, we tested the causal role of DMS D1 and D2 family receptors, and DMS neuronal ensembles in "incubated" methamphetamine seeking, using selective dopamine receptor antagonists (SCH39166 or raclopride) and the Daun02 chemogenetic inactivation procedure, respectively. Methamphetamine seeking was higher after 21 d of voluntary abstinence than after 1 d (incubation of methamphetamine craving). The incubated response was associated with increased Fos expression in DMS but not in DLS; Fos was colabeled with both Drd1 and Drd2 DMS injections of SCH39166 or raclopride selectively decreased methamphetamine seeking after 21 abstinence days. In Fos-lacZ transgenic rats, selective inactivation of relapse test-activated Fos neurons in DMS on abstinence day 18 decreased incubated methamphetamine seeking on day 21. Results demonstrate a role of DMS dopamine D1 and D2 receptors in the incubation of methamphetamine craving after voluntary abstinence and that DMS neuronal ensembles mediate this incubation. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT In human addicts, abstinence is often self-imposed and relapse can be triggered by exposure to drug-associated cues that induce drug craving. We recently developed a rat model of incubation of methamphetamine craving after choice-based voluntary abstinence. Here, we used classical pharmacology, in situ hybridization, immunohistochemistry, and the Daun02 inactivation procedure to demonstrate a critical role of dorsomedial striatum neuronal ensembles in this new form of incubation of drug craving.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniele Caprioli
- Behavioral Neuroscience Research Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, Maryland 21224
| | - Marco Venniro
- Behavioral Neuroscience Research Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, Maryland 21224
| | - Michelle Zhang
- Behavioral Neuroscience Research Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, Maryland 21224
| | - Jennifer M Bossert
- Behavioral Neuroscience Research Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, Maryland 21224
| | - Brandon L Warren
- Behavioral Neuroscience Research Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, Maryland 21224
| | - Bruce T Hope
- Behavioral Neuroscience Research Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, Maryland 21224
| | - Yavin Shaham
- Behavioral Neuroscience Research Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, Maryland 21224
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Choice between delayed food and immediate oxycodone in rats. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2016; 233:3977-3989. [PMID: 27678551 PMCID: PMC5106336 DOI: 10.1007/s00213-016-4429-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2016] [Accepted: 09/01/2016] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
RATIONALE The choice to seek immediate drug effects instead of more meaningful but delayed rewards is a defining feature of addiction. OBJECTIVES To develop a rodent model of this behavior, we allowed rats to choose between immediate intravenous delivery of the prescription opioid oxycodone (50 μg/kg) and delayed delivery of palatable food pellets. RESULTS Rats preferred food at delays up to 30 s, but they chose oxycodone and food equally at 60-s delay and preferred oxycodone over food at 120-s delay. Comparison of food-drug choice, food-only, and drug-only conditions indicated that food availability decreased drug intake, but drug availability increased food intake. In the food-only condition, food was effective as a reinforcer even when delayed by 120 s. Pre-session feeding with chow slowed acquisition of food and drug self-administration, but did not affect choice. To establish procedures for testing potential anti-addiction medications, noncontingent pre-treatment with oxycodone or naltrexone (analogous to substitution and antagonist therapies, respectively) were tested on a baseline in which oxycodone was preferred over delayed food. Naltrexone pre-treatment decreased drug intake and increased food intake. Oxycodone pre-treatment decreased drug intake, but also produced extended periods with no food or drug responding. CONCLUSIONS These findings show that the contingencies that induce preference for drugs over more meaningful but less immediate rewards in humans can be modeled in rodents, and they suggest that the model could be useful for assessing the therapeutic potential of treatments and exploring the underlying behavioral and neural mechanisms involved in addiction.
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Johnson AR, Banks ML, Blough BE, Lile JA, Nicholson KL, Negus SS. Development of a translational model to screen medications for cocaine use disorder I: Choice between cocaine and food in rhesus monkeys. Drug Alcohol Depend 2016; 165:103-10. [PMID: 27264165 PMCID: PMC4939093 DOI: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2016.05.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2016] [Revised: 05/09/2016] [Accepted: 05/24/2016] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Homologous cocaine self-administration procedures in laboratory animals and humans may facilitate translational research for medications development to treat cocaine dependence. This study, therefore, sought to establish choice between cocaine and an alternative reinforcer in rhesus monkeys responding under a procedure back-translated from previous human studies and homologous to a human laboratory procedure described in a companion paper. METHODS Four rhesus monkeys with chronic indwelling intravenous catheters had access to cocaine injections (0, 0.043, 0.14, or 0.43mg/kg/injection) and food (0, 1, 3, or 10 1g banana-flavored food pellets). During daily 5h sessions, a single cocaine dose and a single food-reinforcer magnitude were available in 10 30-min trials. During the initial "sample" trial, the available cocaine and food reinforcer were delivered non-contingently. During each of the subsequent nine "choice" trials, responding could produce either the cocaine or food reinforcer under an independent concurrent progressive-ratio schedule. RESULTS Preference was governed by the cocaine dose and food-reinforcer magnitude, and increasing cocaine doses produced dose-dependent increases in cocaine choice at all food-reinforcer magnitudes. Effects of the candidate medication lisdexamfetamine (0.32-3.2mg/kg/day) were then examined on choice between 0.14mg/kg/injection cocaine and 10 pellets. Under baseline conditions, this reinforcer pair maintained an average of approximately 6 cocaine and 3 food choices. Lisdexamfetamine dose-dependently decreased cocaine choice in all monkeys, but food choice was not significantly altered. CONCLUSIONS These results support utility of this procedure in rhesus monkeys as one component of a platform for translational research on medications development to treat cocaine use disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amy R. Johnson
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA
| | - Matthew L. Banks
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA
| | - Bruce E. Blough
- Center for Drug Discovery, Research Triangle Institute, Research Triangle Park, NC
| | - Joshua A. Lile
- Departments of Behavioral Science, Psychiatry, and Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
| | - Katherine L. Nicholson
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA
| | - S. Stevens Negus
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA
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