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Galaj E, Barrera ED, Persaud K, Nisanov R, Vashisht A, Goldberg H, Patel N, Lenhard H, You ZB, Gardner EL, Ranaldi R. The Impact of Heroin Self-Administration and Environmental Enrichment on Ventral Tegmental CRF1 Receptor Expression. Int J Neuropsychopharmacol 2023; 26:828-839. [PMID: 37864842 PMCID: PMC10726410 DOI: 10.1093/ijnp/pyad060] [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: 04/18/2023] [Accepted: 10/20/2023] [Indexed: 10/23/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND There is a strong link between chronic stress and vulnerability to drug abuse and addiction. Corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) is central to the stress response that contributes to continuation and relapse to heroin abuse. Chronic heroin exposure can exacerbate CRF production, leading to dysregulation of the midbrain CRF-dopamine-glutamate interaction. METHODS Here we investigated the role of midbrain CRF1 receptors in heroin self-administration and assessed neuroplasticity in CRF1 receptor expression in key opioid addiction brain regions. RESULTS Infusions of antalarmin (a CRF1 receptor antagonist) into the ventral tegmental area (VTA) dose dependently reduced heroin self-administration in rats but had no impact on food reinforcement or locomotor activity in rats. Using RNAscope in situ hybridization, we found that heroin, but not saline, self-administration upregulated CRF1 receptor mRNA in the VTA, particularly on dopamine neurons. AMPA GluR1 and dopamine reuptake transporter mRNA in VTA neurons were not affected by heroin. The western-blot assay showed that CRF1 receptors were upregulated in the VTA and nucleus accumbens. No significant changes in CRF1 protein expression were detected in the prefrontal cortex, insula, dorsal hippocampus, and substantia nigra. In addition, we found that 15 days of environmental enrichment implemented after heroin self-administration does not reverse upregulation of VTA CRF1 receptor mRNA but it downregulates dopamine transporter mRNA. CONCLUSIONS Overall, these data suggest that heroin self-administration requires stimulation of VTA CRF1 receptors and upregulates their expression in brain regions involved in reinforcement. Such long-lasting neuroadaptations may contribute to continuation of drug use and relapse due to stress exposure and are not easily reversed by EE exposure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ewa Galaj
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Colgate University, Hamilton, New York, USA
| | - Eddy D Barrera
- The Graduate Center of the City University of New York, New York, NYUSA
| | - Kirk Persaud
- Department of Psychology, Queens College of the City University of New York, Flushing, New York, USA
| | - Rudolf Nisanov
- The Graduate Center of the City University of New York, New York, NYUSA
| | - Apoorva Vashisht
- The Graduate Center of the City University of New York, New York, NYUSA
| | - Hindy Goldberg
- Department of Psychology, Queens College of the City University of New York, Flushing, New York, USA
| | - Nima Patel
- Department of Psychology, Queens College of the City University of New York, Flushing, New York, USA
| | - Hayley Lenhard
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Colgate University, Hamilton, New York, USA
| | - Zhi-Bing You
- Neuropsychopharmacology Section, National Institute on Drug Abuse Intramural Research Program, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
| | - Eliot L Gardner
- Neuropsychopharmacology Section, National Institute on Drug Abuse Intramural Research Program, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
| | - Robert Ranaldi
- The Graduate Center of the City University of New York, New York, NYUSA
- Department of Psychology, Queens College of the City University of New York, Flushing, New York, USA
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Barbee BR, Gourley SL. Brain systems in cocaine abstinence-induced anxiety-like behavior in rodents: A review. ADDICTION NEUROSCIENCE 2022; 2:100012. [PMID: 37485439 PMCID: PMC10361393 DOI: 10.1016/j.addicn.2022.100012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/25/2023]
Abstract
Cocaine use disorder (CUD) is a significant public health issue that generates substantial personal, familial, and economic burdens. Still, there are no FDA-approved pharmacotherapies for CUD. Cocaine-dependent individuals report anxiety during withdrawal, and alleviation of anxiety and other negative affective states may be critical for maintaining drug abstinence. However, the neurobiological mechanisms underlying abstinence-related anxiety in humans or anxiety-like behavior in rodents are not fully understood. This review summarizes investigations regarding anxiety-like behavior in mice and rats undergoing cocaine abstinence, as assessed using four of the most common anxiety-related assays: the elevated plus (or its derivative, the elevated zero) maze, open field test, light-dark transition test, and defensive burying task. We first summarize available evidence that cocaine abstinence generates anxiety-like behavior that persists throughout protracted abstinence. Then, we examine investigations concerning neuropeptide, neurotransmitter, and neuromodulator systems in cocaine abstinence-induced anxiety-like behavior. Throughout, we discuss how differences in sex, rodent strain, cocaine dose and dosing strategy and abstinence duration interact to generate anxiety-like behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Britton R. Barbee
- Graduate Program in Molecular and Systems Pharmacology,
Emory University
- Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of
Medicine; Yerkes National Primate Research Center
| | - Shannon L. Gourley
- Graduate Program in Molecular and Systems Pharmacology,
Emory University
- Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of
Medicine; Yerkes National Primate Research Center
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3
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Cahill CM, Holdridge SV, Liu S, Xue L, Magnussen C, Ong E, Grenier P, Sutherland A, Olmstead MC. Delta opioid receptor activation modulates affective pain and modality-specific pain hypersensitivity associated with chronic neuropathic pain. J Neurosci Res 2022; 100:129-148. [PMID: 32623788 PMCID: PMC8218601 DOI: 10.1002/jnr.24680] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2020] [Revised: 04/28/2020] [Accepted: 06/04/2020] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
Delta opioid receptor (DOR) agonists alleviate nociceptive behaviors in various chronic pain models, including neuropathic pain, while having minimal effect on sensory thresholds in the absence of injury. The mechanisms underlying nerve injury-induced enhancement of DOR function are unclear. We used a peripheral nerve injury (PNI) model of neuropathic pain to assess changes in the function and localization of DORs in mice and rats. Intrathecal administration of DOR agonists reversed mechanical allodynia and thermal hyperalgesia. The dose-dependent thermal antinociceptive effects of DOR agonists were shifted to the left in PNI rats. Administration of DOR agonists produced a conditioned place preference in PNI, but not in sham, animals, whereas the DOR antagonist naltrindole produced a place aversion in PNI, but not in sham, mice, suggesting the engagement of endogenous DOR activity in suppressing pain associated with the injury. GTPγS autoradiography revealed an increase in DOR function in the dorsal spinal cord, ipsilateral to PNI. Immunogold electron microscopy and in vivo fluorescent agonist assays were used to assess changes in the ultrastructural localization of DORs in the spinal dorsal horn. In shams, DORs were primarily localized within intracellular compartments. PNI significantly increased the cell surface expression of DORs within lamina IV-V dendritic profiles. Using neonatal capsaicin treatment, we identified that DOR agonist-induced thermal antinociception was mediated via receptors expressed on primary afferent sensory neurons but did not alter mechanical thresholds. These data reveal that the regulation of DORs following PNI and suggest the importance of endogenous activation of DORs in regulating chronic pain states.
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Affiliation(s)
- Catherine M. Cahill
- Dept of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences, Hatos Center for Neuropharmacology, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA, 90095
| | - Sarah V. Holdridge
- Dept of Pharmacology & Toxicology, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, K7L 3N6
| | - Steve Liu
- Dept of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences, Hatos Center for Neuropharmacology, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA, 90095,Department of Psychology and Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, K7L 3N6
| | - Lihua Xue
- Dept of Pharmacology & Toxicology, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, K7L 3N6
| | - Claire Magnussen
- Dept of Pharmacology & Toxicology, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, K7L 3N6
| | - Edmund Ong
- Dept of Pharmacology & Toxicology, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, K7L 3N6
| | - Patrick Grenier
- Dept of Pharmacology & Toxicology, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, K7L 3N6
| | - Anne Sutherland
- Dept of Pharmacology & Toxicology, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, K7L 3N6
| | - Mary C. Olmstead
- Department of Psychology and Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, K7L 3N6
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Snyder AE, Silberman Y. Corticotropin releasing factor and norepinephrine related circuitry changes in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis in stress and alcohol and substance use disorders. Neuropharmacology 2021; 201:108814. [PMID: 34624301 PMCID: PMC8578398 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2021.108814] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2021] [Revised: 09/12/2021] [Accepted: 09/24/2021] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) affects around 14.5 million individuals in the United States, with Substance Use Disorder (SUD) affecting an additional 8.3 million individuals. Relapse is a major barrier to effective long-term treatment of this illness with stress often described as a key trigger for a person with AUD or SUD to relapse during a period of abstinence. Two signaling molecules, norepinephrine (NE) and corticotropin releasing factor (CRF), are released during the stress response, and also play important roles in reward behaviors and the addiction process. Within the addiction literature, one brain region in which there has been increasing research focus in recent years is the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST). The BNST is a limbic structure with numerous cytoarchitecturally and functionally different subregions that has been implicated in drug-seeking behaviors and stress responses. This review focuses on drug and stress-related neurocircuitry changes in the BNST, particularly within the CRF and NE systems, with an emphasis on differences and similarities between the major dorsal and ventral BNST subregions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angela E Snyder
- Penn State College of Medicine, Department of Neural and Behavioral Sciences, USA
| | - Yuval Silberman
- Penn State College of Medicine, Department of Neural and Behavioral Sciences, USA.
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Effects of Sex and Estrous Cycle on the Time Course of Incubation of Cue-Induced Craving following Extended-Access Cocaine Self-Administration. eNeuro 2021; 8:ENEURO.0054-21.2021. [PMID: 34290059 PMCID: PMC8362687 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0054-21.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2021] [Revised: 06/17/2021] [Accepted: 07/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Cocaine addiction is a devastating public health epidemic that continues to grow. Studies focused on identifying biological factors influencing cocaine craving and relapse vulnerability are necessary to promote abstinence in recovering drug users. Sex and ovarian hormones are known to influence cocaine addiction liability and relapse vulnerability in both humans and rodents. Previous studies have investigated sex differences in the time-dependent intensification or "incubation" of cue-induced cocaine craving that occurs during withdrawal from extended-access cocaine self-administration and have identified changes across the rat reproductive cycle (estrous cycle). Female rats in the estrus stage of the cycle (Estrus Females), the phase during which ovulation occurs, show an increase in the magnitude of incubated cue-induced cocaine craving compared with females in all other phases of the estrous cycle (Non-Estrus Females). Here we extend these findings by assessing incubated craving across the estrous cycle during earlier withdrawal periods (withdrawal day 1 and 15) and later withdrawal periods (withdrawal day 48). We found that this increase in the magnitude of incubated craving during estrus (Estrus Females) is present on withdrawal day 15, but not on withdrawal day 1, and further increases by withdrawal day 48. No difference in the magnitude of incubated craving was observed between Males and Non-Estrus Females. Our data indicate that the effects of hormonal fluctuations on cue-induced cocaine craving intensify during the first month and a half of withdrawal, showing an interaction among abstinence length, estrous cycle fluctuations, and cocaine craving.
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