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Halbout B, Hutson C, Agrawal S, Springs ZA, Ostlund SB. Differential effects of acute and prolonged morphine withdrawal on motivational and goal-directed control over reward-seeking behaviour. Addict Biol 2024; 29:e13393. [PMID: 38706098 PMCID: PMC11070494 DOI: 10.1111/adb.13393] [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: 11/13/2023] [Revised: 01/18/2024] [Accepted: 03/14/2024] [Indexed: 05/07/2024]
Abstract
Opioid addiction is a relapsing disorder marked by uncontrolled drug use and reduced interest in normally rewarding activities. The current study investigated the impact of spontaneous withdrawal from chronic morphine exposure on emotional, motivational and cognitive processes involved in regulating the pursuit and consumption of food rewards in male rats. In Experiment 1, rats experiencing acute morphine withdrawal lost weight and displayed somatic signs of drug dependence. However, hedonically driven sucrose consumption was significantly elevated, suggesting intact and potentially heightened reward processing. In Experiment 2, rats undergoing acute morphine withdrawal displayed reduced motivation when performing an effortful response for palatable food reward. Subsequent reward devaluation testing revealed that acute withdrawal disrupted their ability to exert flexible goal-directed control over reward seeking. Specifically, morphine-withdrawn rats were impaired in using current reward value to select actions both when relying on prior action-outcome learning and when given direct feedback about the consequences of their actions. In Experiment 3, rats tested after prolonged morphine withdrawal displayed heightened rather than diminished motivation for food rewards and retained their ability to engage in flexible goal-directed action selection. However, brief re-exposure to morphine was sufficient to impair motivation and disrupt goal-directed action selection, though in this case, rats were only impaired in using reward value to select actions in the presence of morphine-paired context cues and in the absence of response-contingent feedback. We suggest that these opioid-withdrawal induced deficits in motivation and goal-directed control may contribute to addiction by interfering with the pursuit of adaptive alternatives to drug use.
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Affiliation(s)
- Briac Halbout
- Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Care, School of MedicineUniversity of California, IrvineIrvineCaliforniaUSA
| | - Collin Hutson
- Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Care, School of MedicineUniversity of California, IrvineIrvineCaliforniaUSA
| | - Stuti Agrawal
- Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Care, School of MedicineUniversity of California, IrvineIrvineCaliforniaUSA
| | - Zachary A. Springs
- Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Care, School of MedicineUniversity of California, IrvineIrvineCaliforniaUSA
| | - Sean B. Ostlund
- Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Care, School of MedicineUniversity of California, IrvineIrvineCaliforniaUSA
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, School of Biological SciencesUniversity of California, IrvineIrvineCaliforniaUSA
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Halbout B, Hutson C, Agrawal S, Springs ZA, Ostlund SB. Differential effects of acute and prolonged morphine withdrawal on motivational and goal-directed control over reward-seeking behavior. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.09.14.557822. [PMID: 37745601 PMCID: PMC10515939 DOI: 10.1101/2023.09.14.557822] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/26/2023]
Abstract
Opioid addiction is a relapsing disorder marked by uncontrolled drug use and reduced interest in normally rewarding activities. The current study investigated the impact of spontaneous withdrawal from chronic morphine exposure on emotional, motivational, and cognitive processes involved in regulating the pursuit and consumption of natural food rewards in male rats. In Experiment 1, rats experiencing acute morphine withdrawal lost weight and displayed somatic signs of drug dependence. However, hedonically-driven sucrose consumption was significantly elevated, suggesting intact and potentially heightened emotional reward processing. In Experiment 2, rats undergoing acute morphine withdrawal displayed reduced motivation when performing an effortful response for palatable food reward. Subsequent reward devaluation testing revealed that acute withdrawal also disrupted their ability to exert flexible goal-directed control over their reward-seeking behavior. Specifically, morphine-withdrawn rats displayed insensitivity to reward devaluation both when relying on prior action-outcome learning and when given direct feedback about the consequences of their actions. In Experiment 3, rats tested after prolonged morphine withdrawal displayed heightened rather than diminished motivation for food rewards and retained their ability to engage in flexible goal-directed action selection. However, brief re-exposure to morphine was sufficient to impair motivation and disrupt goal-directed action selection, though in this case insensitivity to reward devaluation was only observed in the presence of morphine-paired context cues and in the absence of response-contingent feedback. We suggest that these opioid-withdrawal induced deficits in motivation and goal-directed control may contribute to addiction by interfering with the pursuit of adaptive alternatives to drug use.
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Affiliation(s)
- Briac Halbout
- Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Care, School of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA
| | - Collin Hutson
- Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Care, School of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA
| | - Stuti Agrawal
- Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Care, School of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA
| | - Zachary A. Springs
- Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Care, School of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA
| | - Sean B. Ostlund
- Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Care, School of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, School of Biological Sciences, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA
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Salinas-Luypaert C, Sáez-Cortez F, Quintanilla ME, Herrera-Marschitz M, Rivera-Meza M. Gene knockdown of HCN2 ion channels in the ventral tegmental area reduces ethanol consumption in alcohol preferring rats. THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF DRUG AND ALCOHOL ABUSE 2022; 48:165-175. [PMID: 35377277 DOI: 10.1080/00952990.2022.2033759] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2021] [Revised: 01/04/2022] [Accepted: 01/15/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Background: Hyperpolarization-Activated Cyclic Nucleotide-Gated (HCN) ionic channels are known to play a key role in the control of neuron excitability and have been proposed as a molecular target of ethanol. Previous studies in rats have shown that gene-induced overexpression of the HCN2 channel in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) increases the rewarding effects of ethanol and its intake by the animals.Objective: The aim of this work was to study the effects of VTA HCN2 gene knockdown in the voluntary ethanol consumption of alcohol-preferring UChB rats.Methods: Two lentiviral vectors were generated; LV-siRNA-HCN2, coding for a siRNA that elicited >95% reduction of HCN2 protein levels in vitro, and a control vector coding for a scrambled siRNA sequence. Female UChB naïve rats (n = 14) were microinjected into the VTA with LV-siRNA-HCN2 or the scrambled control vector (n = 11). Four days after, animals were given a daily free access to 10% ethanol and water for 10 days.Results: Rats treated with the LV-siRNA-HCN2 vector showed a ~ 70% reduction (p < .001) in their ethanol preference and ethanol intake compared to control animals. No changes were observed in the total fluid intake of both groups. HCN2 levels in the VTA were measured by Western blot showing a reduction of 40% (p < .05) in the rats injected with LV-siRNA-HCN2, compared to control animals.Conclusion: These results show that knockdown of HCN2 ionic channels in the VTA of UChB rats markedly reduces their voluntary ethanol intake, supporting the idea that HCN2 channels may constitute a therapeutic target for alcohol use disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Catalina Salinas-Luypaert
- Department of Pharmacological and Toxicological Chemistry, Faculty of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Santiago, Chile
| | - Felipe Sáez-Cortez
- Program of Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology, ICBM, Faculty of Medicine, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - María Elena Quintanilla
- Program of Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology, ICBM, Faculty of Medicine, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Mario Herrera-Marschitz
- Program of Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology, ICBM, Faculty of Medicine, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Mario Rivera-Meza
- Department of Pharmacological and Toxicological Chemistry, Faculty of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Santiago, Chile
- Research Center for the Development of Novel Therapeutic Alternatives for Alcohol Use Disorders, Santiago, Chile
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Yuan L, Luo L, Ma X, Wang W, Yu K, Shi H, Chen J, Chen D, Xu T. Chronic morphine induces cyclic adenosine monophosphate formation and hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated channel expression in the spinal cord of mice. Neuropharmacology 2020; 176:108222. [PMID: 32659289 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2020.108222] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2020] [Revised: 05/31/2020] [Accepted: 06/23/2020] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Chronic morphine exposure persistently activates Gαi/o protein-coupled receptors and enhances adenylyl cyclase (AC) activity, which can increase cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) production. Direct binding of cAMP to the cytoplasmic site on hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) channels increases the probability of channel opening. HCN channels play a prominent role in chronic pain the disease that shares some common mechanisms with opioid tolerance. This compensatory AC activation may be responsible for the induction of morphine-induced analgesic tolerance. We investigated spinal cAMP formation and expression of HCN2 in the spinal cord, and observed the effect of AC inhibition on the induction of morphine analgesic tolerance. We found that chronic morphine-induced antinociceptive tolerance increased spinal cAMP formation and the expression of spinal HCN2. Inhibition of spinal AC partially blocked chronic morphine-induced cAMP formation and prevented the induction of morphine-induced analgesic tolerance. Inhibition of HCN2 also showed a partial preventive effect on morphine-induced tolerance, hypothermia tolerance and also the right-shift of the dose-response curve. We conclude that repeated morphine treatment increases AC activity and cAMP formation, and also spinal HCN2 expression, blockade of AC or HCN2 can prevent the development of morphine-induced analgesic tolerance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lin Yuan
- Department of Anesthesiology, Tongzhou People's Hospital, Nantong, 226300, China
| | - Limin Luo
- Department of Anesthesiology, Affiliated Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200233, China
| | - Xiaqing Ma
- Department of Anesthesiology, Affiliated Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200233, China
| | - Wenying Wang
- Department of Anesthesiology, Affiliated Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200233, China
| | - Kangkang Yu
- Department of Pathology, Tongzhou People's Hospital, Nantong, 226300, China
| | - Haibo Shi
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Sleep Disordered Breathing, Shanghai, 200233, China
| | - Jian Chen
- Department of Orthopaedics, Tongzhou People's Hospital, Nantong, 226300, China.
| | - Dake Chen
- Department of Oncology, Tongzhou People's Hospital, Nantong, 226300, China.
| | - Tao Xu
- Department of Anesthesiology, Tongzhou People's Hospital, Nantong, 226300, China; Department of Anesthesiology, Affiliated Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200233, China.
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