1
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Chang VN, Peters J. Neural circuits controlling choice behavior in opioid addiction. Neuropharmacology 2023; 226:109407. [PMID: 36592884 PMCID: PMC9898219 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2022.109407] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2022] [Revised: 12/23/2022] [Accepted: 12/25/2022] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
As the opioid epidemic presents an ever-expanding public health threat, there is a growing need to identify effective new treatments for opioid use disorder (OUD). OUD is characterized by a behavioral misallocation in choice behavior between opioids and other rewards, as opioid use leads to negative consequences, such as job loss, family neglect, and potential overdose. Preclinical models of addiction that incorporate choice behavior, as opposed to self-administration of a single drug reward, are needed to understand the neural circuits governing opioid choice. These choice models recapitulate scenarios that humans suffering from OUD encounter in their daily lives. Indeed, patients with substance use disorders (SUDs) exhibit a propensity to choose drug under certain conditions. While most preclinical addiction models have focused on relapse as the outcome measure, our data suggest that choice is an independent metric of addiction severity, perhaps relating to loss of cognitive control over choice, as opposed to excessive motivational drive to seek drugs during relapse. In this review, we examine both preclinical and clinical literature on choice behavior for drugs, with a focus on opioids, and the neural circuits that mediate drug choice versus relapse. We argue that preclinical models of opioid choice are needed to identify promising new avenues for OUD therapy that are translationally relevant. Both forward and reverse translation will be necessary to identify novel treatment interventions. This article is part of the Special Issue on "Opioid-induced changes in addiction and pain circuits".
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Affiliation(s)
- Victoria N Chang
- Department of Anesthesiology, University of Colorado Denver, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, 80045, USA
| | - Jamie Peters
- Department of Anesthesiology, University of Colorado Denver, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, 80045, USA; Department of Pharmacology, University of Colorado Denver, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, 80045, USA.
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2
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Lack of action monitoring as a prerequisite for habitual and chunked behavior: Behavioral and neural correlates. iScience 2022; 26:105818. [PMID: 36636348 PMCID: PMC9830217 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105818] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2022] [Revised: 11/01/2022] [Accepted: 12/13/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
We previously reported the rapid development of habitual behavior in a discrete-trials instrumental task in which lever insertion and retraction act as reward-predictive cues delineating sequence execution. Here we asked whether lever cues or performance variables reflective of skill and automaticity might account for habitual behavior in male rats. Behavior in the discrete-trials habit-promoting task was compared with two task variants lacking the sequence-delineating cues of lever extension and retraction. We find that behavior is under goal-directed control in absence of sequence-delineating cues but not in their presence, and that skilled performance does not predict goal-directed vs. habitual behavior. Neural activity recordings revealed an engagement of dorsolateral striatum and a disengagement of dorsomedial striatum during the sequence execution of the habit-promoting task, specifically. Together, these results indicate that sequence delineation cues promote habit and differential engagement of striatal subregions during instrumental responding, a pattern that may reflect cue-elicited behavioral chunking.
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3
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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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4
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Economic choice between remifentanil and food in squirrel monkeys. Neuropsychopharmacology 2022; 47:1398-1404. [PMID: 33833402 PMCID: PMC9117236 DOI: 10.1038/s41386-021-00996-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2020] [Revised: 02/19/2021] [Accepted: 03/05/2021] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Traditional approaches for evaluating if compounds are reinforcing, and thus a risk for abuse, include preclinical self-administration procedures conducted in the absence of alternative reinforcers. While the track record of this approach for determining abuse potential is good, that for predicting efficacy of addiction treatments is not. An alternate approach would be economic choice between drug and nondrug rewards, with parametrically varied options from trial to trial. This would promote goal-directed decisions between reward modalities and should provide metrics that reflect changes in internal state that influence desirability of a given option. We report herein a high throughput economic choice procedure in which squirrel monkeys choose between a short-lived opiate, remifentanil, and a palatable food reward. Stimuli on touchscreens indicate the amount of each reward type offered by varying the number of reward-specific elements. The rapid clearance of remifentanil avoids accumulation of confounding levels of drug, and permits a large number of trials with a wide range of offers of each reward modality. The use of a single metric encompassing multiple values of each reward type within a session enables estimation of indifference values using logistic regression. This indifference value is sensitive to reward devaluation within each reward domain, and is therefore a useful metric for determining shifts in reward preference, as shown with satiation and pharmacological treatment approaches.
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5
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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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6
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Vanderschuren LJMJ, Ahmed SH. Animal Models of the Behavioral Symptoms of Substance Use Disorders. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med 2021; 11:cshperspect.a040287. [PMID: 32513674 PMCID: PMC8327824 DOI: 10.1101/cshperspect.a040287] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
To more effectively manage substance use disorders, it is imperative to understand the neural, genetic, and psychological underpinnings of addictive behavior. To contribute to this understanding, considerable efforts have been made to develop translational animal models that capture key behavioral characteristics of addiction on the basis of DSM5 criteria of substance use disorders. In this review, we summarize empirical evidence for the occurrence of addiction-like behavior in animals. These symptoms include escalation of drug use, neurocognitive deficits, resistance to extinction, exaggerated motivation for drugs, increased reinstatement of drug seeking after extinction, preference for drugs over nondrug rewards, and resistance to punishment. The occurrence of addiction-like behavior in laboratory animals has opened the opportunity to investigate the neural, genetic, and psychological background of key aspects of addiction, which may ultimately contribute to the prevention and treatment of substance use disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Louk J M J Vanderschuren
- Department of Animals in Science and Society, Division of Behavioural Neuroscience, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, 3584 CM Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Serge H Ahmed
- Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux Neurocampus, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, CNRS UMR 5293, F-33000 Bordeaux, France
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7
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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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8
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Vandaele Y, Ahmed SH. Habit, choice, and addiction. Neuropsychopharmacology 2021; 46:689-698. [PMID: 33168946 PMCID: PMC8027414 DOI: 10.1038/s41386-020-00899-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2020] [Revised: 10/07/2020] [Accepted: 10/19/2020] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
Addiction was suggested to emerge from the progressive dominance of habits over goal-directed behaviors. However, it is generally assumed that habits do not persist in choice settings. Therefore, it is unclear how drug habits may persist in real-world scenarios where this factor predominates. Here, we discuss the poor translational validity of the habit construct, which impedes our ability to determine its role in addiction. New evidence of habitual behavior in a drug choice setting are then described and discussed. Interestingly, habitual preference did not promote drug choice but instead favored abstinence. Here, we propose several clues to reconcile these unexpected results with the habit theory of addiction, and we highlight the need in experimental research to face the complexity of drug addicts' decision-making environments by investigating drug habits in the context of choice and in the presence of cues. On a theoretical level, we need to consider more complex frameworks, taking into account continuous interactions between goal-directed and habitual systems, and alternative decision-making models more representative of real-world conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Y Vandaele
- Department of Psychiatry, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland.
| | - S H Ahmed
- Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
- Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, CNRS, Bordeaux, France
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9
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Social isolation enhances cued-reinstatement of sucrose and nicotine seeking, but this is reversed by a return to social housing. Sci Rep 2021; 11:2422. [PMID: 33510269 PMCID: PMC7843648 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-81966-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2020] [Accepted: 01/12/2021] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Physical or perceived (i.e. loneliness) social isolation is increasing in Western cultures. Unfortunately, social isolation is associated with a range of negative physical and mental health outcomes, including increased incidence of obesity and smoking. Here we monitored the impact of social isolation on a range of physical measures, and then tested whether social isolation in adult rats changes how reward-related stimuli motivate sucrose- or nicotine-seeking. Socially isolated rats showed elevated baseline CORT, gained significantly less weight across the study, were more active in response to a novel or familiar environment. Isolated rats also acquired nose-poking for a food pellet more rapidly, and showed increased susceptibility to cue-, but not reward-induced reinstatement. Notably, these effects are partially mitigated by a return to group housing, suggesting that they are not necessarily permanent, and that a return to a social setting can quickly reverse any deficits or changes associated with social isolation. This study advances our understanding of altered reward-processing in socially isolated individuals and reiterates the importance of socialisation in the treatment of disorders such as overeating and addiction.
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10
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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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11
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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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12
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Hogarth L. Addiction is driven by excessive goal-directed drug choice under negative affect: translational critique of habit and compulsion theory. Neuropsychopharmacology 2020; 45:720-735. [PMID: 31905368 PMCID: PMC7265389 DOI: 10.1038/s41386-020-0600-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 119] [Impact Index Per Article: 29.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2019] [Revised: 12/09/2019] [Accepted: 12/18/2019] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
Drug addiction may be a goal-directed choice driven by excessive drug value in negative affective states, a habit driven by strong stimulus-response associations, or a compulsion driven by insensitivity to costs imposed on drug seeking. Laboratory animal and human evidence for these three theories is evaluated. Excessive goal theory is supported by dependence severity being associated with greater drug choice/economic demand. Drug choice is demonstrably goal-directed (driven by the expected value of the drug) and can be augmented by stress/negative mood induction and withdrawal-effects amplified in those with psychiatric symptoms and drug use coping motives. Furthermore, psychiatric symptoms confer risk of dependence, and coping motives mediate this risk. Habit theory of addiction has weaker support. Habitual behaviour seen in drug-exposed animals often does not occur in complex decision scenarios, or where responding is rewarded, so habit is unlikely to explain most human addictive behaviour where these conditions apply. Furthermore, most human studies have not found greater propensity to habitual behaviour in drug users or as a function of dependence severity, and the minority that have can be explained by task disengagement producing impaired explicit contingency knowledge. Compulsion theory of addiction also has weak support. The persistence of punished drug seeking in animals is better explained by greater drug value (evinced by the association with economic demand) than by insensitivity to costs. Furthermore, human studies have provided weak evidence that propensity to discount cost imposed on drug seeking is associated with dependence severity. These data suggest that human addiction is primarily driven by excessive goal-directed drug choice under negative affect, and less by habit or compulsion. Addiction is pathological because negative states powerfully increase expected drug value acutely outweighing abstinence goals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lee Hogarth
- School of Psychology, University of Exeter, Washington Singer Building, Perry Road, Exeter, EX4 4QG, UK.
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13
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Field M, Kersbergen I. Are animal models of addiction useful? Addiction 2020; 115:6-12. [PMID: 31353760 DOI: 10.1111/add.14764] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2019] [Revised: 07/03/2019] [Accepted: 07/03/2019] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Pre-clinical research involving non-human animals has made important contributions to our understanding of risk factors for addiction, neuroadaptations that follow chronic drug exposure and to the development of some efficacious pharmacotherapies for addiction. Despite these contributions, we argue that animal models of addiction have impeded progress in our understanding of addiction and its treatment in humans. ARGUMENT First, the majority of pharmacological treatments that were initially developed using animal models have failed to prove effective for the treatment of addiction in humans, resulting in a huge waste of resources. Secondly, we demonstrate that prevailing animal models that portray addiction as a disorder of compulsion and habit cannot be reconciled with observations that psychoactive drug use in humans is a goal-directed operant behaviour that remains under the control of its consequences, even in people who are addicted. Thirdly, addiction may be a uniquely human phenomenon that is dependent on language, which necessarily limits the validity of animal models. Finally, we argue that addicted brains must be understood as one component of broader networks of symptoms and environmental and social factors that are impossible to model in laboratory animals. CONCLUSIONS A case can be made that animal models of addiction have not served us well in understanding and treating addiction in humans. It is important to reconsider some widely held beliefs about the nature of addictive behaviour in humans that have arisen from the zeal to translate observations of laboratory animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matt Field
- Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
| | - Inge Kersbergen
- School of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
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14
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Schreiner DC, Renteria R, Gremel CM. Fractionating the all-or-nothing definition of goal-directed and habitual decision-making. J Neurosci Res 2019; 98:998-1006. [PMID: 31642551 DOI: 10.1002/jnr.24545] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2019] [Revised: 09/30/2019] [Accepted: 10/09/2019] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Goal-directed and habitual decision-making are fundamental processes that support the ongoing adaptive behavior. There is a growing interest in examining their disruption in psychiatric disease, often with a focus on a disease shifting control from one process to the other, usually a shift from goal-directed to habitual control. However, several different experimental procedures can be used to probe whether decision-making is under goal-directed or habitual control, including outcome devaluation and contingency degradation. These different experimental procedures may recruit diverse behavioral and neural processes. Thus, there are potentially many opportunities for these disease phenotypes to manifest as alterations to both goal-directed and habitual controls. In this review, we highlight the examples of behavioral and neural circuit divergence and similarity, and suggest that interpretation based on behavioral processes recruited during testing may leave more room for goal-directed and habitual decision-making to coexist. Furthermore, this may improve our understanding of precisely what the involved neural mechanisms underlying aspects of goal-directed and habitual behavior are, as well as how disease affects behavior and these circuits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Drew C Schreiner
- Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Rafael Renteria
- Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Christina M Gremel
- Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.,Neurosciences Graduate Program, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
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