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Pribut HJ, Kang N, Roesch MR. Prior cocaine self-administration does not impair the ability to delay gratification in rats during diminishing returns. Behav Pharmacol 2024; 35:147-155. [PMID: 38651979 DOI: 10.1097/fbp.0000000000000771] [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] [Indexed: 04/25/2024]
Abstract
Previous exposure to drugs of abuse produces impairments in studies of reversal learning, delay discounting and response inhibition tasks. While these studies contribute to the understanding of normal decision-making and how it is impaired by drugs of abuse, they do not fully capture how decision-making impacts the ability to delay gratification for greater long-term benefit. To address this issue, we used a diminishing returns task to study decision-making in rats that had previously self-administered cocaine. This task was designed to test the ability of the rat to choose to delay gratification in the short-term to obtain more reward over the course of the entire behavioral session. Rats were presented with two choices. One choice had a fixed amount of time delay needed to obtain reward [i.e. fixed delay (FD)], while the other choice had a progressive delay (PD) that started at 0 s and progressively increased by 1 s each time the PD option was selected. During the 'reset' variation of the task, rats could choose the FD option to reset the time delay associated with the PD option. Consistent with previous results, we found that prior cocaine exposure reduced rats' overall preference for the PD option in post-task reversal testing during 'no-reset' sessions, suggesting that cocaine exposure made rats more sensitive to the increasing delay of the PD option. Surprisingly, however, we found that rats that had self-administered cocaine 1-month prior, adapted behavior during 'reset' sessions by delaying gratification to obtain more reward in the long run similar to control rats.
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Affiliation(s)
- H J Pribut
- Department of Psychology
- Program in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
| | | | - Matthew R Roesch
- Department of Psychology
- Program in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
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2
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Gasparyan A, Maldonado Sanchez D, Navarrete F, Sion A, Navarro D, García-Gutiérrez MS, Rubio Valladolid G, Jurado Barba R, Manzanares J. Cognitive Alterations in Addictive Disorders: A Translational Approach. Biomedicines 2023; 11:1796. [PMID: 37509436 PMCID: PMC10376598 DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines11071796] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2023] [Revised: 06/02/2023] [Accepted: 06/06/2023] [Indexed: 07/30/2023] Open
Abstract
The cognitive decline in people with substance use disorders is well known and can be found during both the dependence and drug abstinence phases. At the clinical level, cognitive decline impairs the response to addiction treatment and increases dropout rates. It can be irreversible, even after the end of drug abuse consumption. Improving our understanding of the molecular and cellular alterations associated with cognitive decline could be essential to developing specific therapeutic strategies for its treatment. Developing animal models to simulate drug abuse-induced learning and memory alterations is critical to continue exploring this clinical situation. The main aim of this review is to summarize the most recent evidence on cognitive impairment and the associated biological markers in patients addicted to some of the most consumed drugs of abuse and in animal models simulating this clinical situation. The available information suggests the need to develop more studies to further explore the molecular alterations associated with cognitive impairment, with the ultimate goal of developing new potential therapeutic strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ani Gasparyan
- Instituto de Neurociencias, Universidad Miguel Hernández-CSIC, Avda de Ramón y Cajal s/n, 03550 San Juan de Alicante, Spain
- Redes de Investigación Cooperativa Orientada a Resultados en Salud (RICORS), Red de Investigación en Atención Primaria de Adicciones (RIAPAd), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, MICINN and FEDER, 28029 Madrid, Spain
- Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria y Biomédica de Alicante (ISABIAL), 03010 Alicante, Spain
| | | | - Francisco Navarrete
- Instituto de Neurociencias, Universidad Miguel Hernández-CSIC, Avda de Ramón y Cajal s/n, 03550 San Juan de Alicante, Spain
- Redes de Investigación Cooperativa Orientada a Resultados en Salud (RICORS), Red de Investigación en Atención Primaria de Adicciones (RIAPAd), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, MICINN and FEDER, 28029 Madrid, Spain
- Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria y Biomédica de Alicante (ISABIAL), 03010 Alicante, Spain
| | - Ana Sion
- Instituto de Investigación i+12, Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, 28041 Madrid, Spain
- Faculty of Psychology, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
| | - Daniela Navarro
- Instituto de Neurociencias, Universidad Miguel Hernández-CSIC, Avda de Ramón y Cajal s/n, 03550 San Juan de Alicante, Spain
- Redes de Investigación Cooperativa Orientada a Resultados en Salud (RICORS), Red de Investigación en Atención Primaria de Adicciones (RIAPAd), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, MICINN and FEDER, 28029 Madrid, Spain
- Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria y Biomédica de Alicante (ISABIAL), 03010 Alicante, Spain
| | - María Salud García-Gutiérrez
- Instituto de Neurociencias, Universidad Miguel Hernández-CSIC, Avda de Ramón y Cajal s/n, 03550 San Juan de Alicante, Spain
- Redes de Investigación Cooperativa Orientada a Resultados en Salud (RICORS), Red de Investigación en Atención Primaria de Adicciones (RIAPAd), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, MICINN and FEDER, 28029 Madrid, Spain
- Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria y Biomédica de Alicante (ISABIAL), 03010 Alicante, Spain
| | - Gabriel Rubio Valladolid
- Redes de Investigación Cooperativa Orientada a Resultados en Salud (RICORS), Red de Investigación en Atención Primaria de Adicciones (RIAPAd), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, MICINN and FEDER, 28029 Madrid, Spain
- Instituto de Investigación i+12, Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, 28041 Madrid, Spain
- Department of Psychiatry, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
| | - Rosa Jurado Barba
- Instituto de Investigación i+12, Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, 28041 Madrid, Spain
- Faculty of Health, Universidad Camilo José Cela, 28001 Madrid, Spain
| | - Jorge Manzanares
- Instituto de Neurociencias, Universidad Miguel Hernández-CSIC, Avda de Ramón y Cajal s/n, 03550 San Juan de Alicante, Spain
- Redes de Investigación Cooperativa Orientada a Resultados en Salud (RICORS), Red de Investigación en Atención Primaria de Adicciones (RIAPAd), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, MICINN and FEDER, 28029 Madrid, Spain
- Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria y Biomédica de Alicante (ISABIAL), 03010 Alicante, Spain
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Li DC, Pitts EG, Dighe NM, Gourley SL. GluN2B inhibition confers resilience against long-term cocaine-induced neurocognitive sequelae. Neuropsychopharmacology 2023; 48:1108-1117. [PMID: 36056105 PMCID: PMC10209078 DOI: 10.1038/s41386-022-01437-8] [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: 03/31/2022] [Revised: 07/26/2022] [Accepted: 08/17/2022] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
Cocaine self-administration can disrupt the capacity of humans and rodents to flexibly modify familiar behavioral routines, even when they become maladaptive or unbeneficial. However, mechanistic factors, particularly those driving long-term behavioral changes, are still being determined. Here, we capitalized on individual differences in oral cocaine self-administration patterns in adolescent mice and revealed that the post-synaptic protein PSD-95 was reduced in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) of escalating, but not stable, responders, which corresponded with later deficits in flexible decision-making behavior. Meanwhile, NMDA receptor GluN2B subunit content was lower in the OFC of mice that were resilient to escalatory oral cocaine seeking. This discovery led us to next co-administer the GluN2B-selective antagonist ifenprodil with cocaine, blocking the later emergence of cocaine-induced decision-making abnormalities. GluN2B inhibition also prevented cocaine-induced dysregulation of neuronal structure and function in the OFC, preserving mature, mushroom-shaped dendritic spine densities on deep-layer pyramidal neurons, which were otherwise lower with cocaine, and safeguarding functional BLA→OFC connections necessary for action flexibility. We posit that cocaine potentiates GluN2B-dependent signaling, which triggers a series of durable adaptations that result in the dysregulation of post-synaptic neuronal structure in the OFC and disruption of BLA→OFC connections, ultimately weakening the capacity for flexible choice. And thus, inhibiting GluN2B-NMDARs promotes resilience to long-term cocaine-related sequelae.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dan C Li
- Medical Scientist Training Program, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
- Emory National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Elizabeth G Pitts
- Department of Pediatrics, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
- Emory National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Niharika M Dighe
- Department of Pediatrics, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
- Emory National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Shannon L Gourley
- Department of Pediatrics, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
- Emory National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
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4
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Fattahi M, Eskandari K, Riahi E, Khosrowabadi R, Haghparast A. Distinct suppressing effects of deep brain stimulation in the orbitofrontal cortex on the development, extinction, and reinstatement of methamphetamine-seeking behaviors. Life Sci 2023; 322:121613. [PMID: 36948388 DOI: 10.1016/j.lfs.2023.121613] [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: 01/11/2023] [Revised: 03/10/2023] [Accepted: 03/18/2023] [Indexed: 03/24/2023]
Abstract
AIMS The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is implicated in compulsive drug-seeking and relapse, the characteristics that result in addiction treatment failure. Structural and functional impairments within the OFC have been detected in many substance use disorders (SUDs). Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is proposed as a promising therapeutic option in treating SUDs. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the potential efficacy of DBS application on the various stages of the methamphetamine-conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm in rats. MAIN METHODS Electrodes were implanted unilaterally in the rat's right OFC. DBS in the form of high- or low-frequency stimulation (HFS: 130 Hz, LFS: 13 Hz) was applied during the 5-day conditioning phase (a daily 30-min session) or extinction period (30-min session, daily, ten days) of methamphetamine-induced CPP in two separate sets of experiments. Following extinction, place preference was reinstated by injecting a priming dose of methamphetamine (0.25 mg/kg). KEY FINDINGS The HFS and LFS significantly decreased the methamphetamine place preference when applied over the conditioning period. In the extinction experiment, only HFS could remarkably accelerate the extinction of reward-context associations and even reduce the methamphetamine-induced reinstatement of seeking behaviors. SIGNIFICANCE Conclusively, DBS administration in the OFC demonstrated some positive results, including suppressing effects on the development, maintenance, and relapse of methamphetamine-seeking behavior. These findings encourage conducting more preclinical studies to strongly suggest a wide range of DBS applications in cortical areas such as OFC as an efficient treatment modality for psychostimulant use disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mojdeh Fattahi
- Neuroscience Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Kiarash Eskandari
- Neuroscience Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Esmail Riahi
- Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Science, Tehran, Iran
| | - Reza Khosrowabadi
- Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
| | - Abbas Haghparast
- Neuroscience Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; School of Cognitive Sciences, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences, Tehran, Iran; Department of Basic Sciences, Iranian Academy of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
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Bagley JR, Bailey LS, Gagnon LH, He H, Philip VM, Reinholdt LG, Tarantino LM, Chesler EJ, Jentsch JD. Behavioral phenotypes revealed during reversal learning are linked with novel genetic loci in diversity outbred mice. ADDICTION NEUROSCIENCE 2022; 4:100045. [PMID: 36714272 PMCID: PMC9879139 DOI: 10.1016/j.addicn.2022.100045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Impulsive behavior and impulsivity are heritable phenotypes that are strongly associated with risk for substance use disorders. Identifying the neurogenetic mechanisms that influence impulsivity may also reveal novel biological insights into addiction vulnerability. Our past studies using the BXD and Collaborative Cross (CC) recombinant inbred mouse panels have revealed that behavioral indicators of impulsivity measured in a reversal-learning task are heritable and are genetically correlated with aspects of intravenous cocaine self-administration. Genome-wide linkage studies in the BXD panel revealed a quantitative trait locus (QTL) on chromosome 10, but we expect to identify additional QTL by testing in a population with more genetic diversity. To this end, we turned to Diversity Outbred (DO) mice; 392 DO mice (156 males, 236 females) were phenotyped using the same reversal learning test utilized previously. Our primary indicator of impulsive responding, a measure that isolates the relative difficulty mice have with reaching performance criteria under reversal conditions, revealed a genome-wide significant QTL on chromosome 7 (max LOD score = 8.73, genome-wide corrected p<0.05). A measure of premature responding akin to that implemented in the 5-choice serial reaction time task yielded a suggestive QTL on chromosome 17 (max LOD score = 9.14, genome-wide corrected <0.1). Candidate genes were prioritized (2900076A07Rik, Wdr73 and Zscan2) based upon expression QTL data we collected in DO and CC mice and analyses using publicly available gene expression and phenotype databases. These findings may advance understanding of the genetics that drive impulsive behavior and enhance risk for substance use disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jared R. Bagley
- Department of Psychology, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY, USA
- Center for Systems Neurogenetics of Addiction at The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME, USA
| | - Lauren S. Bailey
- Department of Psychology, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY, USA
- Center for Systems Neurogenetics of Addiction at The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME, USA
| | - Leona H. Gagnon
- Center for Systems Neurogenetics of Addiction at The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME, USA
- The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME, USA
| | - Hao He
- Center for Systems Neurogenetics of Addiction at The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME, USA
- The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME, USA
| | - Vivek M. Philip
- Center for Systems Neurogenetics of Addiction at The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME, USA
- The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME, USA
| | - Laura G. Reinholdt
- Center for Systems Neurogenetics of Addiction at The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME, USA
- The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME, USA
| | - Lisa M. Tarantino
- Center for Systems Neurogenetics of Addiction at The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME, USA
- Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
- Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics, Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Elissa J. Chesler
- Center for Systems Neurogenetics of Addiction at The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME, USA
- The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME, USA
| | - James D. Jentsch
- Department of Psychology, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY, USA
- Center for Systems Neurogenetics of Addiction at The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME, USA
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6
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Mesa JR, Wesson DW, Schwendt M, Knackstedt LA. The roles of rat medial prefrontal and orbitofrontal cortices in relapse to cocaine-seeking: A comparison across methods for identifying neurocircuits. ADDICTION NEUROSCIENCE 2022; 4:100031. [PMID: 36277334 PMCID: PMC9583858 DOI: 10.1016/j.addicn.2022.100031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Abstract
A large body of research supports the notion that regions of the rodent frontal cortex regulate reinstatement of cocaine seeking after cessation of intravenous cocaine self-administration. However, earlier studies identifying the roles of medial (mPFC) and orbital prefrontal cortices (OFC) in reinstatement relied on pharmacological inactivation methods, which indiscriminately inhibited cells within a target region. Here, we first review the anatomical borders and pathways of the rat mPFC and OFC. Next, we compare and contrast findings from more recent cocaine seeking and reinstatement studies that used chemogenetics, optogenetics, or advanced tracing to manipulate specific local cell types or input/output projections of the mPFC and OFC subregions. We found that these studies largely corroborated the roles for mPFC subregions as ascribed by pharmacological inactivation studies. Namely, the prelimbic cortex generally drives cocaine seeking behaviors while the infralimbic cortex is recruited to inhibit cocaine seeking by extinction training but may contribute to seeking after prolonged abstinence. While the OFC remains understudied, we suggest it should not be overlooked, and, as with prelimbic and infralimbic cortices, we identify specific pathways of interest for future studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Javier R. Mesa
- Department of Psychology, University of Florida, 114 Psychology, 945 Center Dr., Gainesville, FL 32611, USA,Center for Addiction Research and Education, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA,Corresponding author at: Department of Psychology, University of Florida, 114 Psychology, 945 Center Dr., Gainesville, FL 32611, USA. (J.R. Mesa)
| | - Daniel W. Wesson
- Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA,Center for Addiction Research and Education, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
| | - Marek Schwendt
- Department of Psychology, University of Florida, 114 Psychology, 945 Center Dr., Gainesville, FL 32611, USA,Center for Addiction Research and Education, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
| | - Lori A. Knackstedt
- Department of Psychology, University of Florida, 114 Psychology, 945 Center Dr., Gainesville, FL 32611, USA,Center for Addiction Research and Education, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
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7
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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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8
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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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9
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Effects of Withdrawal from Cocaine Self-Administration on Rat Orbitofrontal Cortex Parvalbumin Neurons Expressing Cre recombinase: Sex-Dependent Changes in Neuronal Function and Unaltered Serotonin Signaling. eNeuro 2021; 8:ENEURO.0017-21.2021. [PMID: 34083381 PMCID: PMC8266218 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0017-21.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2021] [Revised: 05/14/2021] [Accepted: 05/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is a brain region involved in higher-order decision-making. Rodent studies show that cocaine self-administration (CSA) reduces OFC contribution to goal-directed behavior and behavioral strategies to avoid drug intake. This change in OFC function persists for many weeks after cocaine withdrawal, suggesting involvement in the process of addiction. The mechanisms underlying impaired OFC function by cocaine are not well-understood. However, studies implicate altered OFC serotonin (5-HT) function in disrupted cognitive processes during addiction and other psychiatric disorders. Thus, it is hypothesized that cocaine impairment of OFC function involves changes in 5-HT signaling, and previous work shows that 5-HT1A and 5-HT2A receptor-mediated effects on OFC pyramidal neurons (PyNs) are impaired weeks after cocaine withdrawal. However, 5-HT effects on other contributors to OFC circuit function have not been fully investigated, including the parvalbumin-containing, fast-spiking interneurons (OFCPV), whose function is essential to normal OFC-mediated behavior. Here, 5-HT function in naive rats and those withdrawn from CSA were evaluated using a novel rat transgenic line in which the rat parvalbumin promoter drives Cre-recombinase expression to permit identification of OFCPV cells by fluorescent reporter protein expression. We find that whereas CSA altered basal synaptic and membrane properties of the OFCPV neurons in a sex-dependent manner, the effects of 5-HT on these cells were unchanged by CSA. These data suggest that the behavioral effects of dysregulated OFC 5-HT function caused by cocaine experience are primarily mediated by changes in 5-HT signaling at PyNs, and not at OFCPV neurons.
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10
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Pribut HJ, Vázquez D, Brockett AT, Wei AD, Tennyson SS, Roesch MR. Prior Cocaine Exposure Increases Firing to Immediate Reward While Attenuating Cue and Context Signals Related to Reward Value in the Insula. J Neurosci 2021; 41:4667-4677. [PMID: 33849944 PMCID: PMC8260251 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.3025-20.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2020] [Revised: 03/29/2021] [Accepted: 04/02/2021] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
The insula contributes to behavioral control and is disrupted by substance abuse, yet we know little about the neural signals underlying these functions or how they are disrupted after chronic drug self-administration. Here, male and female rats self-administered either cocaine (experimental group) or sucrose (control) for 12 consecutive days. After a 1 month withdrawal period, we recorded from insula while rats performed a previously learned reward-guided decision-making task. Cocaine-exposed rats were more sensitive to value manipulations and were faster to respond. These behavioral changes were accompanied by elevated counts of neurons in the insula that increased firing to reward. These neurons also fired more strongly at the start of long-delay trials, when a more immediate reward would be expected, and fired less strongly in anticipation of the actual delivery of delayed rewards. Although reward-related firing to immediate reward was enhanced after cocaine self-administration, reward-predicting cue and context signals were attenuated. In addition to revealing novel firing patterns unique to insula, our data suggest changes in such neural activity likely contribute to impaired decision making observed after drug use.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The insula plays a clear role in drug addiction and drug-induced impairments of decision making, yet there is little understanding of its underlying neural signals. We found that chronic cocaine self-administration reduces cue and context encoding in insula while enhancing signals related to immediate reward. These changes in neural activity likely contribute to impaired decision making and impulsivity observed after drug use.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heather J Pribut
- Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742
- Program in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742
| | - Daniela Vázquez
- Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742
- Program in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742
| | - Adam T Brockett
- Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742
- Program in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742
| | - Alice D Wei
- Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742
| | - Stephen S Tennyson
- Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742
| | - Matthew R Roesch
- Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742
- Program in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742
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11
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Abstract
Drug addiction is a chronic relapsing disorder, and a significant amount of research has been devoted to understand the factors that contribute to the development, loss of control, and persistence of compulsive addictive behaviors. In this review, we provide an overview of various theories of addiction to drugs of abuse and the neurobiology involved in elements of the addiction cycle. Specific focus is devoted to the role of the mesolimbic pathway in acute drug reinforcement and occasional drug use, the role of the mesocortical pathway and associated areas (e.g., the dorsal striatum) in escalation/dependence, and the contribution of these pathways and associated circuits to conditioned responses, drug craving, and loss of behavioral control that may underlie drug relapse. By enhancing the understanding of the neurobiological factors that mediate drug addiction, continued preclinical and clinical research will aid in the development of novel therapeutic interventions that can serve as effective long-term treatment strategies for drug-dependent individuals.
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12
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Mañas‐Padilla MC, Gil‐Rodríguez S, Sampedro‐Piquero P, Ávila‐Gámiz F, Rodríguez de Fonseca F, Santín LJ, Castilla‐Ortega E. Remote memory of drug experiences coexists with cognitive decline and abnormal adult neurogenesis in an animal model of cocaine-altered cognition. Addict Biol 2021; 26:e12886. [PMID: 32090424 DOI: 10.1111/adb.12886] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2019] [Revised: 12/23/2019] [Accepted: 02/12/2020] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Cocaine addiction is a chronic disorder in which the person loses control over drug use. The past memories of the stimuli associated with the drug are a relevant clinical problem, since they trigger compulsive drug-seeking and drug-taking habits. Furthermore, these persistent drug-related memories seemingly coexist with cognitive decline that predicts worse therapeutic output. Here, we use a new animal model of cocaine-altered cognition that allowed to observe these events in the same individual and study their relationship. Mice were chronically administered cocaine in a conditioned place preference (CPP) apparatus for 14 days, and control mice received saline. After 28 days of cocaine withdrawal, animals were tested for retrieval of remote drug-associated memory as well as for cognitive performance in a battery of tests, including novel object and place recognition and spatial memory. The cocaine-withdrawn mice showed persistent CPP memory while impaired in the cognitive tasks, displaying deficits in reference memory acquisition and working memory. However, the CPP expression was not associated with the defective cognitive performance, indicating that they were concomitant but independent occurrences. After completion of the experiment, adult hippocampal neurogenesis (AHN) was studied as a relevant neurobiological correlate due to its potential role in both learning and drug addiction. Results suggested a preserved basal AHN in the cocaine-withdrawn mice but an aberrant learning-induced regulation of these neurons. This paradigm may be useful to investigate maladaptive cognition in drug addiction as well as related therapies.
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Affiliation(s)
- M. Carmen Mañas‐Padilla
- Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga‐IBIMA Málaga Spain
- Departamento de Psicobiología y Metodología de las Ciencias del Comportamiento, Facultad de Psicología Universidad de Málaga Málaga Spain
| | - Sara Gil‐Rodríguez
- Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga‐IBIMA Málaga Spain
- Departamento de Psicobiología y Metodología de las Ciencias del Comportamiento, Facultad de Psicología Universidad de Málaga Málaga Spain
| | - Patricia Sampedro‐Piquero
- Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga‐IBIMA Málaga Spain
- Departamento de Psicobiología y Metodología de las Ciencias del Comportamiento, Facultad de Psicología Universidad de Málaga Málaga Spain
| | - Fabiola Ávila‐Gámiz
- Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga‐IBIMA Málaga Spain
- Departamento de Psicobiología y Metodología de las Ciencias del Comportamiento, Facultad de Psicología Universidad de Málaga Málaga Spain
| | - Fernando Rodríguez de Fonseca
- Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga‐IBIMA Málaga Spain
- Unidad de Gestión Clínica de Salud Mental Hospital Regional Universitario de Málaga Málaga Spain
| | - Luis J. Santín
- Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga‐IBIMA Málaga Spain
- Departamento de Psicobiología y Metodología de las Ciencias del Comportamiento, Facultad de Psicología Universidad de Málaga Málaga Spain
| | - Estela Castilla‐Ortega
- Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga‐IBIMA Málaga Spain
- Unidad de Gestión Clínica de Salud Mental Hospital Regional Universitario de Málaga Málaga Spain
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13
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Alcohol exposure in utero disrupts cortico-striatal coordination required for behavioral flexibility. Neuropharmacology 2021; 188:108471. [PMID: 33618902 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2021.108471] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
Deficits in behavioral flexibility are a hallmark of multiple psychiatric, neurological, and substance use disorders. These deficits are often marked by decreased function of the prefrontal cortex (PFC); however, the genesis of such executive deficits remains understudied. Here we report how the most preventable cause of developmental disability, in utero exposure to alcohol, alters cortico-striatal circuit activity leading to impairments in behavioral flexibility in adulthood. We utilized a translational touch-screen task coupled with in vivo electrophysiology in adult mice to examine single unit and coordinated activity of the lateral orbital frontal cortex (OFC) and dorsolateral striatum (DS) during flexible behavior. Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) decreased OFC, and increased DS, single unit activity during reversal learning and altered the number of choice responsive neurons in both regions. PAE also decreased coordinated activity within the OFC and DS as measured by oscillatory field activity and altered spike-field coupling. Furthermore, PAE led to sustained connectivity between regions past what was seen in control animals. These findings suggest that PAE causes altered coordination within and between the OFC and DS, promoting maladaptive perseveration. Our model suggests that in optimally functioning mice OFC disengages the DS and updates the newly changed reward contingency, whereas in PAE animals, aberrant and persistent OFC to DS signaling drives behavioral inflexibility during early reversal sessions. Together, these findings demonstrate how developmental exposure alters circuit-level activity leading to behavioral deficits and suggest a critical role for coordination of neural timing during behaviors requiring executive function.
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14
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Melugin PR, Nolan SO, Siciliano CA. Bidirectional causality between addiction and cognitive deficits. INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF NEUROBIOLOGY 2020; 157:371-407. [PMID: 33648674 PMCID: PMC8566632 DOI: 10.1016/bs.irn.2020.11.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Cognitive deficits are highly comorbid with substance use disorders. Deficits span multiple cognitive domains, are associated with disease severity across substance classes, and persist long after cessation of substance use. Furthermore, recovery of cognitive function during protracted abstinence is highly predictive of treatment adherence, relapse, and overall substance use disorder prognosis, suggesting that addiction may be best characterized as a disease of executive dysfunction. While the association between cognitive deficits and substance use disorders is clear, determining causalities is made difficult by the complex interplay between these variables. Cognitive dysfunction present prior to first drug use can act as a risk factor for substance use initiation, likelihood of pathology, and disease trajectory. At the same time, substance use can directly cause cognitive impairments even in individuals without preexisting deficits. Thus, parsing preexisting risk factors from substance-induced adaptations, and how they may interact, poses significant challenges. Here, focusing on psychostimulants and alcohol, we review evidence from clinical literature implicating cognitive deficits as a risk factor for addiction, a consequence of substance use, and the role the prefrontal cortex plays in these phenomena. We then review corresponding preclinical literature, highlighting the high degree of congruency between animal and human studies, and emphasize the unique opportunity that animal models provide to test causality between cognitive phenotypes and substance use, and to investigate the underlying neurobiology at a cellular and molecular level. Together, we provide an accessible resource for assessing the validity and utility of forward- and reverse-translation between these clinical and preclinical literatures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick R Melugin
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States
| | - Suzanne O Nolan
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States
| | - Cody A Siciliano
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States.
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15
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Prior Cocaine Use Alters the Normal Evolution of Information Coding in Striatal Ensembles during Value-Guided Decision-Making. J Neurosci 2020; 41:342-353. [PMID: 33219006 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1755-20.2020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2020] [Revised: 11/11/2020] [Accepted: 11/16/2020] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Substance use disorders (SUDs) are characterized by maladaptive behavior. The ability to properly adjust behavior according to changes in environmental contingencies necessitates the interlacing of existing memories with updated information. This can be achieved by assigning learning in different contexts to compartmentalized "states." Though not often framed this way, the maladaptive behavior observed in individuals with SUDs may result from a failure to properly encode states because of drug-induced neural alterations. Previous studies found that the dorsomedial striatum (DMS) is important for behavioral flexibility and state encoding, suggesting the DMS may be an important substrate for these effects. Here, we recorded DMS neural activity in cocaine-experienced male rats during a decision-making task where blocks of trials represented distinct states to probe whether the encoding of state and state-related information is affected by prior drug exposure. We found that DMS medium spiny neurons (MSNs) and fast-spiking interneurons (FSIs) encoded such information and that prior cocaine experience disrupted the evolution of representations both within trials and across recording sessions. Specifically, DMS MSNs and FSIs from cocaine-experienced rats demonstrated higher classification accuracy of trial-specific rules, defined by response direction and value, compared with those drawn from sucrose-experienced rats, and these overly strengthened trial-type representations were related to slower switching behavior and reaction times. These data show that prior cocaine experience paradoxically increases the encoding of state-specific information and rules in the DMS and suggest a model in which abnormally specific and persistent representation of rules throughout trials in DMS slows value-based decision-making in well trained subjects.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Substance use disorders (SUDs) may result from a failure to properly encode rules guiding situationally appropriate behavior. The dorsomedial striatum (DMS) is thought to be important for such behavioral flexibility and encoding that defines the situation or "state." This suggests that the DMS may be an important substrate for the maladaptive behavior observed in SUDs. In the current study, we show that prior cocaine experience results in over-encoding of state-specific information and rules in the DMS, which may impair normal adaptive decision-making in the task, akin to what is observed in SUDs.
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16
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Mollick JA, Kober H. Computational models of drug use and addiction: A review. JOURNAL OF ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY 2020; 129:544-555. [PMID: 32757599 PMCID: PMC7416739 DOI: 10.1037/abn0000503] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
In this brief review, we describe current computational models of drug-use and addiction that fall into 2 broad categories: mathematically based models that rely on computational theories, and brain-based models that link computations to brain areas or circuits. Across categories, many are models of learning and decision-making, which may be compromised in addiction. Several mathematical models take predictive coding approaches, focusing on Bayesian prediction error. Other models focus on learning processes and (traditional) prediction error. Brain-based models have incorporated prefrontal cortex, basal ganglia, and the dopamine system, based on the effects of drugs on dopamine, motivation, and executive control circuits. Several models specifically describe how behavioral control may transition from habitual to goal-directed systems, consistent with computational accounts of compromised "model-based" control. Some brain-based models have linked this to the transition of behavioral control from ventral to dorsal striatum. Overall, we propose that while computational models capture some aspects of addiction and have advanced our thinking, most have focused on the effects of drug use rather than addiction per se, most have not been tested on and/or supported by human data, and few capture multiple stages and symptoms of addiction. We conclude by suggesting a path forward for computational models of addiction. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica A Mollick
- Clinical and Affective Neuroscience Lab, Department of Psychiatry, Yale University
| | - Hedy Kober
- Clinical and Affective Neuroscience Lab, Department of Psychiatry, Yale University
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17
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Kantak KM. Adolescent-onset vs. adult-onset cocaine use: Impact on cognitive functioning in animal models and opportunities for translation. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 2020; 196:172994. [PMID: 32659242 DOI: 10.1016/j.pbb.2020.172994] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2020] [Revised: 05/25/2020] [Accepted: 07/02/2020] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
Animal models are poised to make key contributions to the study of cognitive deficits associated with chronic cocaine use in people. Advantages of animal models include use of a longitudinal experimental design that can control for drug use history and onset-age, sex, drug consumption, and abstinence duration. Twenty-two studies were reviewed (13 in adult male rats, 5 in adolescent vs. adult male rats, 3 in adult male monkeys, and 1 in adult female monkeys), and it was demonstrated repeatedly that male animals with adult-onset cocaine self-administration exposure had impairments in sustained attention, decision making, stimulus-reward learning, working memory, and cognitive flexibility, but not habit learning and spatial learning and memory. These findings have translational relevance because adult cocaine users exhibit a similar range of cognitive deficits. In the limited number of studies available, male rats self-administering cocaine during adolescence were less susceptible than adults to impairment in cognitive flexibility, stimulus-reward learning, and decision making, but were more susceptible than adults to impairment in working memory, a finding also reported in the few studies performed in early-onset cocaine users. These findings suggest that animal models can help fill an unmet need for investigating important but yet-to-be-fully-addressed research questions in people. Research priorities include further investigation of differences between adolescents and adults as well as between males and females following chronic cocaine self-administration. A comprehensive understanding of the broad range of cognitive consequences of chronic cocaine use and the role of developmental plasticity can be of value for improving neuropsychological recovery efforts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kathleen M Kantak
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, United States of America.
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18
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Different periods of forced abstinence after instrumental learning for food reward of different macronutrient value on responding for conditioned cues and AMPAr subunit levels. Behav Brain Res 2019; 375:112141. [PMID: 31394143 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2019.112141] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2019] [Revised: 08/02/2019] [Accepted: 08/02/2019] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Food craving can be viewed as an intense desire for a specific food that propagates seeking and consuming behavior. Prolonged forced abstinence from rewarding foods can result in escalated food-seeking behavior as measured via elevated responding for food-paired cues in the absence of the primary reward. Palatable food consumption and food-seeking is associated with changes in the abundance and composition of AMPA receptors in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) but differing results have been reported. The present study examined whether different food types could produce escalated food-seeking behavior after various abstinence periods and whether this was associated with changes in AMPA receptor protein levels. Rats were trained for 10 days to bar press for purified, sucrose, or chocolate-flavored sucrose pellets. Rats were tested at 24 hrs, 7 d or 14 d whereby bar pressing resulted in presentation of cues paired with food but no food reward was delivered. Western blotting was used to determine protein levels of GluR1, GluR1pSer845, and GluR2 in the NAc. Three separate groups were assessed: 1) a group that was trained on the operant task and tested for conditioned responding (tested group); 2) a group that was trained on the operant task but not tested (non-tested group); 3) a group that was neither trained nor tested (control). The purified food group showed a time-dependent elevation in conditioned bar pressing over the 3 abstinence periods. GluR1 AMPAr subunit levels were higher in the purified and sucrose groups tested at 24 hours compared to the non-tested and control values. GluR1 levels subsequently declined at the 7- and 14-day abstinence periods in the purified and sucrose tested and non-tested groups compared to control values. GluR2 and pSer845 Glur1 levels were similar across all groups and abstinence periods. These results show that food-seeking behavior associated with forced abstinence from different food rewards may depend on the macronutrient composition of the food reward or the food type given during the abstinence period. A clear link with AMPAr subunit levels in this model was not established.
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19
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Zhukovsky P, Puaud M, Jupp B, Sala-Bayo J, Alsiö J, Xia J, Searle L, Morris Z, Sabir A, Giuliano C, Everitt BJ, Belin D, Robbins TW, Dalley JW. Withdrawal from escalated cocaine self-administration impairs reversal learning by disrupting the effects of negative feedback on reward exploitation: a behavioral and computational analysis. Neuropsychopharmacology 2019; 44:2163-2173. [PMID: 30952156 PMCID: PMC6895115 DOI: 10.1038/s41386-019-0381-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2019] [Revised: 03/16/2019] [Accepted: 03/25/2019] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
Addiction is regarded as a disorder of inflexible choice with behavior dominated by immediate positive rewards over longer-term negative outcomes. However, the psychological mechanisms underlying the effects of self-administered drugs on behavioral flexibility are not well understood. To investigate whether drug exposure causes asymmetric effects on positive and negative outcomes we used a reversal learning procedure to assess how reward contingencies are utilized to guide behavior in rats previously exposed to intravenous cocaine self-administration (SA). Twenty-four rats were screened for anxiety in an open field prior to acquisition of cocaine SA over six daily sessions with subsequent long-access cocaine SA for 7 days. Control rats (n = 24) were trained to lever-press for food under a yoked schedule of reinforcement. Higher rates of cocaine SA were predicted by increased anxiety and preceded impaired reversal learning, expressed by a decrease in lose-shift as opposed to win-stay probability. A model-free reinforcement learning algorithm revealed that rats with high, but not low cocaine escalation failed to exploit previous reward learning and were more likely to repeat the same response as the previous trial. Eight-day withdrawal from high cocaine escalation was associated, respectively, with increased and decreased dopamine receptor D2 (DRD2) and serotonin receptor 2C (HTR2C) expression in the ventral striatum compared with controls. Dopamine receptor D1 (DRD1) expression was also significantly reduced in the orbitofrontal cortex of high cocaine-escalating rats. These findings indicate that withdrawal from escalated cocaine SA disrupts how negative feedback is used to guide goal-directed behavior for natural reinforcers and that trait anxiety may be a latent variable underlying this interaction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Zhukovsky
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK
- Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK
| | - Mickael Puaud
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK
- Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK
| | - Bianca Jupp
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK
- Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK
| | - Júlia Sala-Bayo
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK
- Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK
| | - Johan Alsiö
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK
- Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK
| | - Jing Xia
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK
- Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK
| | - Lydia Searle
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK
- Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK
| | - Zoe Morris
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK
- Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK
| | - Aryan Sabir
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK
- Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK
| | - Chiara Giuliano
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK
- Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK
| | - Barry J Everitt
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK
- Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK
| | - David Belin
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK
- Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK
| | - Trevor W Robbins
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK
- Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK
| | - Jeffrey W Dalley
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK.
- Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK.
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 2QQ, UK.
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20
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Marquardt K, Cavanagh JF, Brigman JL. Alcohol exposure in utero disrupts cortico-striatal coordination required for behavioral flexibility. Neuropharmacology 2019; 162:107832. [PMID: 31678398 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2019.107832] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2019] [Revised: 10/09/2019] [Accepted: 10/28/2019] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Deficits in behavioral flexibility are a hallmark of multiple psychiatric, neurological, and substance use disorders. These deficits are often marked by decreased function of the prefrontal cortex (PFC); however, the genesis of such executive deficits remains understudied. Here we report how the most preventable cause of developmental disability, in utero exposure to alcohol, alters cortico-striatal circuit activity leading to impairments in behavioral flexibility in adulthood. We utilized a translational touch-screen task coupled with in vivo electrophysiology in adult mice to examine single unit and coordinated activity of the lateral orbital frontal cortex (OFC) and dorsolateral striatum (DS) during flexible behavior. Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) decreased OFC, and increased DS, single unit activity during reversal learning and altered the number of choice responsive neurons in both regions. PAE also decreased coordinated activity within the OFC and DS as measured by oscillatory field activity and altered spike-field coupling. Furthermore, PAE led to sustained connectivity between regions past what was seen in control animals. These findings suggest that PAE causes altered coordination within and between the OFC and DS, promoting maladaptive perseveration. Our model suggests that in optimally functioning mice OFC disengages the DS and updates the newly changed reward contingency, whereas in PAE animals, aberrant and persistent OFC to DS signaling drives behavioral inflexibility during early reversal sessions. Together, these findings demonstrate how developmental exposure alters circuit-level activity leading to behavioral deficits and suggest a critical role for coordination of neural timing during behaviors requiring executive function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristin Marquardt
- Department of Neurosciences, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque, NM, USA
| | - James F Cavanagh
- Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA
| | - Jonathan L Brigman
- Department of Neurosciences, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque, NM, USA; New Mexico Alcohol Research Center, UNM Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque, NM, USA.
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21
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Takahashi YK, Stalnaker TA, Marrero-Garcia Y, Rada RM, Schoenbaum G. Expectancy-Related Changes in Dopaminergic Error Signals Are Impaired by Cocaine Self-Administration. Neuron 2019; 101:294-306.e3. [PMID: 30653935 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2018.11.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2018] [Revised: 08/30/2018] [Accepted: 11/13/2018] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Addiction is a disorder of behavioral control and learning. While this may reflect pre-existing propensities, drug use also clearly contributes by causing changes in outcome processing in prefrontal and striatal regions. This altered processing is associated with behavioral deficits, including changes in learning. These areas provide critical input to midbrain dopamine neurons regarding expected outcomes, suggesting that effects on learning may result from changes in dopaminergic error signaling. Here, we show that dopamine neurons recorded in rats that had self-administered cocaine failed to suppress firing on omission of an expected reward and exhibited lower amplitude and imprecisely timed increases in firing to an unexpected reward. Learning also appeared to have less of an effect on reward-evoked and cue-evoked firing in the cocaine-experienced rats. Overall, the changes are consistent with reduced fidelity of input regarding the expected outcomes, such as their size, timing, and overall value, because of cocaine use.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuji K Takahashi
- Intramural Research program of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIH, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA.
| | - Thomas A Stalnaker
- Intramural Research program of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIH, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA
| | - Yasmin Marrero-Garcia
- Intramural Research program of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIH, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA
| | - Ray M Rada
- Intramural Research program of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIH, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA
| | - Geoffrey Schoenbaum
- Intramural Research program of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIH, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA; Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA; Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
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22
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Lim TV, Cardinal RN, Savulich G, Jones PS, Moustafa AA, Robbins TW, Ersche KD. Impairments in reinforcement learning do not explain enhanced habit formation in cocaine use disorder. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2019; 236:2359-2371. [PMID: 31372665 PMCID: PMC6695345 DOI: 10.1007/s00213-019-05330-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2019] [Accepted: 07/08/2019] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
RATIONALE Drug addiction has been suggested to develop through drug-induced changes in learning and memory processes. Whilst the initiation of drug use is typically goal-directed and hedonically motivated, over time, drug-taking may develop into a stimulus-driven habit, characterised by persistent use of the drug irrespective of the consequences. Converging lines of evidence suggest that stimulant drugs facilitate the transition of goal-directed into habitual drug-taking, but their contribution to goal-directed learning is less clear. Computational modelling may provide an elegant means for elucidating changes during instrumental learning that may explain enhanced habit formation. OBJECTIVES We used formal reinforcement learning algorithms to deconstruct the process of appetitive instrumental learning and to explore potential associations between goal-directed and habitual actions in patients with cocaine use disorder (CUD). METHODS We re-analysed appetitive instrumental learning data in 55 healthy control volunteers and 70 CUD patients by applying a reinforcement learning model within a hierarchical Bayesian framework. We used a regression model to determine the influence of learning parameters and variations in brain structure on subsequent habit formation. RESULTS Poor instrumental learning performance in CUD patients was largely determined by difficulties with learning from feedback, as reflected by a significantly reduced learning rate. Subsequent formation of habitual response patterns was partly explained by group status and individual variation in reinforcement sensitivity. White matter integrity within goal-directed networks was only associated with performance parameters in controls but not in CUD patients. CONCLUSIONS Our data indicate that impairments in reinforcement learning are insufficient to account for enhanced habitual responding in CUD.
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Affiliation(s)
- T V Lim
- Departments of Psychiatry, Psychology and Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, Herchel Smith Building for Brain & Mind Sciences, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 0SZ, UK
| | - R N Cardinal
- Departments of Psychiatry, Psychology and Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, Herchel Smith Building for Brain & Mind Sciences, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 0SZ, UK
- Behavioural and Clinical Neurosciences Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- Liaison Psychiatry Service, Cambridgeshire & Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, Box 190, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 0QQ, UK
| | - G Savulich
- Departments of Psychiatry, Psychology and Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, Herchel Smith Building for Brain & Mind Sciences, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 0SZ, UK
- Behavioural and Clinical Neurosciences Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - P S Jones
- Departments of Psychiatry, Psychology and Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, Herchel Smith Building for Brain & Mind Sciences, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 0SZ, UK
| | - A A Moustafa
- School of Social Sciences and Psychology, MARCS Institute for Brain and Behaviour, Western Sydney University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - T W Robbins
- Departments of Psychiatry, Psychology and Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, Herchel Smith Building for Brain & Mind Sciences, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 0SZ, UK
- Behavioural and Clinical Neurosciences Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - K D Ersche
- Departments of Psychiatry, Psychology and Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, Herchel Smith Building for Brain & Mind Sciences, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 0SZ, UK.
- Behavioural and Clinical Neurosciences Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
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Cameron CM, Murugan M, Choi JY, Engel EA, Witten IB. Increased Cocaine Motivation Is Associated with Degraded Spatial and Temporal Representations in IL-NAc Neurons. Neuron 2019; 103:80-91.e7. [PMID: 31101395 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2019.04.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2018] [Revised: 02/07/2019] [Accepted: 04/05/2019] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
Craving for cocaine progressively increases in cocaine users during drug-free periods, contributing to relapse. The projection from the infralimbic cortex to the nucleus accumbens shell (IL-NAc) is thought to inhibit cocaine seeking. However, it is not known whether and how IL-NAc neurons contribute to the increased motivation associated with a drug-free period. We first performed cellular resolution imaging of IL-NAc neurons in rats during a drug-seeking test. This revealed neurons with spatial selectivity within the cocaine-associated context, a decrease in activity around the time of cocaine seeking, and an inverse relationship between cocaine-seeking activity and subsequent cocaine motivation. All these properties were reduced by a drug-free period. Next, we transiently activated this projection, which resulted in reduced drug seeking, regardless of the drug-free period. Taken together, this suggests that altered IL-NAc activity after a drug-free period may enhance cocaine motivation without fundamentally altering the projection's ability to inhibit drug seeking.
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Affiliation(s)
- Courtney M Cameron
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
| | - Malavika Murugan
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
| | - Jung Yoon Choi
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA; Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
| | - Esteban A Engel
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
| | - Ilana B Witten
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA; Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.
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Gobin C, Shallcross J, Schwendt M. Neurobiological substrates of persistent working memory deficits and cocaine-seeking in the prelimbic cortex of rats with a history of extended access to cocaine self-administration. Neurobiol Learn Mem 2019; 161:92-105. [PMID: 30946882 DOI: 10.1016/j.nlm.2019.03.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2018] [Revised: 02/21/2019] [Accepted: 03/26/2019] [Indexed: 01/16/2023]
Abstract
Cocaine use disorder (CUD) is associated with prefrontal cortex dysfunction and cognitive deficits that may contribute to persistent relapse susceptibility. As the relationship between cognitive deficits, cortical abnormalities and drug seeking is poorly understood, development of relevant animal models is of high clinical importance. Here, we used an animal model to characterize working memory and reversal learning in rats with a history of extended access cocaine self-administration and prolonged abstinence. We also investigated immediate and long-term functional changes within the prelimbic cortex (PrL) in relation to cognitive performance and drug-seeking. Adult male rats underwent 6 days of short-access (1 h/day) followed by 12 days of long-access (6 h/day) cocaine self-administration, or received passive saline infusions. Next, rats were tested in delayed match-to-sample (DMS) and (non)match-to-sample (NMS) tasks, and finally in a single context + cue relapse test on day 90 of abstinence. We found that a history of chronic cocaine self-administration impaired working memory, though sparing reversal learning, and that the components of these cognitive measures correlated with later drug-seeking. Further, we found that dysregulated metabolic activity and mGlu5 receptor signaling in the PrL of cocaine rats correlated with past working memory performance and/or drug-seeking, as indicated by the analysis of cytochrome oxidase reactivity, mGlu5 and Homer 1b/c protein expression, as well as Arc mRNA expression in mGlu5-positive cells. These findings advocate for a persistent post-cocaine PrL dysfunction, rooted in ineffective compensatory changes and manifested as impaired working memory performance and hyperreactivity to cocaine cues. Considering the possible interplay between the neural correlates underlying post-cocaine cognitive deficits and drug-seeking, cognitive function should be evaluated and considered when developing neurobiologically-based treatments of cocaine relapse.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christina Gobin
- Psychology Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA; Center for Addiction Research and Education (CARE) at University of Florida, USA
| | - John Shallcross
- Psychology Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA; Center for Addiction Research and Education (CARE) at University of Florida, USA
| | - Marek Schwendt
- Psychology Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA; Center for Addiction Research and Education (CARE) at University of Florida, USA.
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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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Prior Exposure to Salient Win-Paired Cues in a Rat Gambling Task Increases Sensitivity to Cocaine Self-Administration and Suppresses Dopamine Efflux in Nucleus Accumbens: Support for the Reward Deficiency Hypothesis of Addiction. J Neurosci 2019; 39:1842-1854. [PMID: 30626700 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.3477-17.2018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2017] [Revised: 12/10/2018] [Accepted: 12/21/2018] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Rats trained to perform a version of the rat gambling task (rGT) in which salient audiovisual cues accompany reward delivery, similar to commercial gambling products, show greater preference for risky options. Given previous demonstrations that probabilistic reinforcement schedules can enhance psychostimulant-induced increases in accumbal DA and locomotor activity, we theorized that performing this cued task could perpetuate a proaddiction phenotype. Significantly more rats developed a preference for the risky options in the cued versus uncued rGT at baseline, and this bias was further exacerbated by cocaine self-administration, whereas the choice pattern of optimal decision-makers was unaffected. The addition of reward-paired cues therefore increased the proportion of rats exhibiting a maladaptive cognitive response to cocaine self-administration. Risky choice was not associated with responding for conditioned reinforcement or a marker of goal/sign-tracking, suggesting that reward-concurrent cues precipitate maladaptive choice via a unique mechanism unrelated to simple approach toward, or responding for, conditioned stimuli. Although "protected" from any resulting decision-making impairment, optimal decision-makers trained on the cued rGT nevertheless self-administered more cocaine than those trained on the uncued task. Collectively, these data suggest that repeated engagement with heavily cued probabilistic reward schedules can drive addiction vulnerability through multiple behavioral mechanisms. Rats trained on the cued rGT also exhibited blunted locomotor sensitization and lower basal accumbal DA levels, yet greater cocaine-induced increases in accumbal DA efflux. Gambling in the presence of salient cues may therefore result in an adaptive downregulation of the mesolimbic DA system, rendering individuals more sensitive to the deleterious effects of taking cocaine.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Impaired cost/benefit decision making, exemplified by preference for the risky, disadvantageous options on the Iowa Gambling Task, is associated with greater risk of relapse and treatment failure in substance use disorder. Understanding factors that enhance preference for risk may help elucidate the neurobiological mechanisms underlying maladaptive decision making in addiction, thereby improving treatment outcomes. Problem gambling is also highly comorbid with substance use disorder, and many commercial gambling products incorporate salient win-paired cues. Here we show that adding reward-concurrent cues to a rat analog of the IGT precipitates a hypodopaminergic state, characterized by blunted accumbal DA efflux and attenuated locomotor sensitization, which may contribute to the enhanced responsivity to uncertain rewards or the reinforcing effects of cocaine we observed.
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27
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Moorman DE. The role of the orbitofrontal cortex in alcohol use, abuse, and dependence. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 2018; 87:85-107. [PMID: 29355587 PMCID: PMC6072631 DOI: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2018.01.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 69] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2017] [Revised: 12/22/2017] [Accepted: 01/13/2018] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
One of the major functions of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is to promote flexible motivated behavior. It is no surprise, therefore, that recent work has demonstrated a prominent impact of chronic drug use on the OFC and a potential role for OFC disruption in drug abuse and addiction. Among drugs of abuse, the use of alcohol is particularly salient with respect to OFC function. Although a number of studies in humans have implicated OFC dysregulation in alcohol use disorders, animal models investigating the association between OFC and alcohol use are only beginning to be developed, and there is still a great deal to be revealed. The goal of this review is to consider what is currently known regarding the role of the OFC in alcohol use and dependence. I will first provide a brief, general overview of current views of OFC function and its contributions to drug seeking and addiction. I will then discuss research to date related to the OFC and alcohol use, both in human clinical populations and in non-human models. Finally I will consider issues and strategies to guide future study that may identify this brain region as a key player in the transition from moderated to problematic alcohol use and dependence.
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Affiliation(s)
- David E. Moorman
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Neuroscience and Behavior Graduate Program, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst MA 01003 USA
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28
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Defining the place of habit in substance use disorders. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 2018; 87:22-32. [PMID: 28663112 PMCID: PMC5748018 DOI: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2017.06.029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2017] [Revised: 06/23/2017] [Accepted: 06/25/2017] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
It has long been suggested that alcohol or substance use disorders could emerge from the progressive development and dominance of drug habits. Like habits, drug-related behaviors are often triggered by drug-associated cues. Like habits, addictive behaviors are strong, rigid and "hard to break". Like habits, these behaviors are insensitive to their outcome and persist despite negative consequences. "Pathological habit" thus appears as a good candidate to explain the transition to compulsive drug use. However, drug use could also be considered as a goal-directed choice, driven by the expectation of drug outcomes. For example, drug addicts may engage in drug-seeking behaviors because they view the drug as more valuable than available alternatives. Substance use disorders therefore may not be all about habit, nor fully intentional, and could be considered as resulting from an imbalance between goal-directed and habitual control. The main objective of this review is to disentangle the relative contribution of habit formation and impairment of goal-directed behavior in this unbalanced control of addictive behaviors. Although deficits in goal-directed behavior have been demonstrated in alcohol and substance use disorders, reliable demonstration of abnormal habit formation has been curtailed by the paucity of paradigms designed to assess habit as a positive result. Refining our animal and human model of habit is therefore required to precisely define the place of habit in substance use disorders and develop appropriate and adapted neurobehavioral treatments.
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Noye Tuplin EW, Holahan MR. Exploring time-dependent changes in conditioned place preference for food reward and associated changes in the nucleus accumbens. Behav Brain Res 2018; 361:14-25. [PMID: 30576721 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2018.12.031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2018] [Revised: 12/14/2018] [Accepted: 12/17/2018] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
The conditioned place preference (CPP) procedure has been used to study the incubation of craving phenomenon with rewarding drugs such as cocaine and methamphetamine. The present study examined whether rats trained in a CPP behavioral design would display an incubation of craving response for chocolate-flavored pellets or milk chocolate chips at the behavioral and neural levels. Rats were conditioned using an unbiased CPP design then underwent abstinence from food reward for 24 hs, 7, 14, or 28 days at which point they were tested for CPP. Brains underwent immunohistochemical staining for c-Fos and FosB as well as Golgi staining to assess dendritic spine density in the nucleus accumbens (NAc). A time-dependent increase in CPP and entries into the previously paired compartment was observed in the chocolate-flavored pellet group but not the milk chocolate group. Time-dependent neural changes were not directly associated with behavioral outcomes but c-Fos labelling was higher in the chocolate pellet group than controls at the 7-day abstinence period. The behavioral results show that chocolate pellets are rewarding and are associated with long-term behavioral changes but, as evidenced by limited neural changes, these food rewards do not have the same effects on the NAc as drugs of abuse.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erin W Noye Tuplin
- Department of Neuroscience, Carleton University, 5307 Health Sciences Building, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, K1S 5B6, ON, Canada.
| | - Matthew R Holahan
- Department of Neuroscience, Carleton University, 5307 Health Sciences Building, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, K1S 5B6, ON, Canada
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30
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Bechard AR, LaCrosse A, Namba MD, Jackson B, Knackstedt LA. Impairments in reversal learning following short access to cocaine self-administration. Drug Alcohol Depend 2018; 192:239-244. [PMID: 30278419 PMCID: PMC6200584 DOI: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2018.08.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2018] [Revised: 07/22/2018] [Accepted: 08/14/2018] [Indexed: 01/17/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Cocaine use disorder is characterized by compulsive drug-seeking that persists long into abstinence. Work using rodent models of cocaine addiction has found evidence for reversal learning deficits 21 days after non-contingent cocaine administration and 60 days after self-administration. Here we sought to determine if a deficit in reversal learning is present 3-4 weeks after cessation of cocaine self-administration, when relapse to cocaine-seeking is robust. Conversely, we hypothesized that reversal learning training would protect against relapse, similar to other forms of environmental enrichment. METHODS Male rats underwent short access (ShA, 2 h/10d) or long access (LgA, 1 h/7d then 6 h/10d) cocaine self-administration, followed by 21-29 days of abstinence. During abstinence, a subset of rats underwent training in a plus-maze that required an egocentric strategy to earn a sucrose reward. Following response acquisition and retention, the ability to reverse the spatial navigation strategy was tested. RESULTS Total trials to criteria and total errors made did not differ between the groups during response acquisition, retention, or reversal. On the first reversal test, ShA rats performed better than LgA and control rats. ShA rats' performance worsened over time. There were no effects of cognitive training or length of cocaine access on context-primed relapse of cocaine-seeking. CONCLUSIONS The present data indicate that perhaps LgA cocaine self-administration does not produce adaptations to regions mediating context-primed relapse as it does for cocaine and cocaine-associated cue-induced reinstatement of drug-seeking. A time-dependent deficit in reversal learning was found only in ShA rats. Reversal learning training did not protect against cocaine relapse.
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Affiliation(s)
- Allison R Bechard
- Department of Psychology, University of Florida, 945 Center Dr., Gainesville, FL, 32611, United States.
| | - Amber LaCrosse
- Department of Psychology, University of Florida, 945 Center Dr., Gainesville, FL, 32611, United States
| | - Mark D Namba
- Department of Psychology, University of Florida, 945 Center Dr., Gainesville, FL, 32611, United States
| | - Brooke Jackson
- Department of Psychology, University of Florida, 945 Center Dr., Gainesville, FL, 32611, United States
| | - Lori A Knackstedt
- Department of Psychology, University of Florida, 945 Center Dr., Gainesville, FL, 32611, United States
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31
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Vonder Haar C, Ferland JMN, Kaur S, Riparip LK, Rosi S, Winstanley CA. Cocaine self-administration is increased after frontal traumatic brain injury and associated with neuroinflammation. Eur J Neurosci 2018; 50:2134-2145. [PMID: 30118561 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.14123] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2018] [Revised: 07/30/2018] [Accepted: 08/07/2018] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) has been linked to the development of numerous psychiatric diseases, including substance use disorder. However, it can be difficult to ascertain from clinical data whether the TBI is cause or consequence of increased addiction vulnerability. Surprisingly few studies have taken advantage of animal models to investigate the causal nature of this relationship. In terms of a plausible neurobiological mechanism through which TBI could magnify the risk of substance dependence, numerous studies indicate that TBI can cause widespread disruption to monoaminergic signaling in striatal regions, and also increases neuroinflammation. In the current study, male Long-Evans rats received either a mild or severe TBI centered over the frontal cortex via controlled cortical impact, and were subsequently trained to self-administer cocaine over 10 6-hour sessions. At the end of the study, markers of striatal dopaminergic function, and levels of inflammatory cytokine levels in the frontal lobes, were assessed via western blot and multiplex ELISA, respectively. There was significantly higher cocaine intake in a subset of animals with either mild or severe TBI. However, many animals within both TBI groups failed to acquire self-administration. Principal components analysis suggested that both dopaminergic and neuroinflammatory proteins were associated with overall cocaine intake, yet only an inflammatory component was associated with acquisition of self-administration, suggesting neuroinflammation may make a more substantial contribution to the likelihood of drug-taking. Should neuroinflammation play a causal role in mediating TBI-induced addiction risk, anti-inflammatory therapy may reduce the likelihood of substance abuse in TBI populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cole Vonder Haar
- Injury and Recovery Laboratory, Department of Psychology, West Virginia University, PO Box 6040, 53 Campus Drive, Morgantown, WV, 26505, USA.,Laboratory of Molecular and Behavioural Neuroscience, University of British Columbia, 2215 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z3, Canada
| | - Jacqueline-Marie N Ferland
- Laboratory of Molecular and Behavioural Neuroscience, University of British Columbia, 2215 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z3, Canada
| | - Sukhbir Kaur
- Laboratory of Molecular and Behavioural Neuroscience, University of British Columbia, 2215 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z3, Canada
| | - Lara-Kirstie Riparip
- Brain and Spinal Injury Center, Departments of Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science and Neurological Surgery, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Susanna Rosi
- Brain and Spinal Injury Center, Departments of Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science and Neurological Surgery, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Catharine A Winstanley
- Laboratory of Molecular and Behavioural Neuroscience, University of British Columbia, 2215 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z3, Canada
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32
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Noye Tuplin EW, Lightfoot SHM, Holahan MR. Comparison of the Time-Dependent Changes in Immediate Early Gene Labeling and Spine Density Following Abstinence From Contingent or Non-contingent Chocolate Pellet Delivery. Front Behav Neurosci 2018; 12:144. [PMID: 30061817 PMCID: PMC6055009 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00144] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2018] [Accepted: 06/25/2018] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Rationale: Incubation of craving is a phenomenon whereby responding for cues associated with a reward increases over extended periods of abstinence. Both contingent and non-contingent behavioral designs have been used to study the incubation of craving phenomenon with differing results. The present study directly compares behavioral and neural changes following contingent or non-contingent administration of chocolate flavored pellets. Objective: The current study examined whether an incubation of craving response would be observed at the behavioral and neural levels following delays of abstinence from chocolate pellets in a contingent or non-contingent reinforcement design. Methods: Rats were trained for 10 days to bar press for chocolate pellets (contingent) or received chocolate pellets in a non-contingent design (classical conditioning). Groups were then subjected to abstinence from the reward for 24 h, 7, 14 or 28 days at which point they were tested for responding for reward associated cues. Following the test, brains from all rats were processed and assessed for c-Fos and FosB labeling as well as dendritic spine density in the nucleus accumbens (NAc). Results: Behavioral measures during the test (lever presses, food hopper entries and locomotor activity) revealed similar behavioral outcomes across all delays indicating the lack of an incubation of craving response on both the contingent and non-contingent designs. Overall, labeling of c-Fos in the NAc was lower for the non-contingent group compared to the operant-trained and food restricted control. Compared to the operant-trained and non-trained control groups, a significantly reduced FosB labeling was noted in the NAc of the classically conditioned groups across all abstinence periods. Spine density in the NAc was elevated in both the classically and operant conditioned compared to the food-restricted, non-trained controls. Conclusions: Chocolate pellet reward did not result in incubation of craving but did produce behavioral learning that was associated with increased spine density. This suggests that chocolate pellet administration results in long-term structural and functional changes that are present for at least 28 days following abstinence. Contingent and non-contingent administration resulted in differential immediate early gene labeling in the NAc, but the functional significance of this has yet to be elucidated.
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Wright AM, Zapata A, Baumann MH, Elmore JS, Hoffman AF, Lupica CR. Enduring Loss of Serotonergic Control of Orbitofrontal Cortex Function Following Contingent and Noncontingent Cocaine Exposure. Cereb Cortex 2018; 27:5463-5476. [PMID: 27733540 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhw312] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2016] [Accepted: 09/19/2016] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Clinical descriptions of cocaine addiction include compulsive drug seeking and maladaptive decision-making despite substantial aversive consequences. Research suggests that this may result from altered orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) function and its participation in outcome-based behavior. Clinical and animal studies also implicate serotonin in the regulation of OFC function in addiction and other neuropsychiatric disorders. Here we test the hypothesis that exposure to cocaine, through self-administration (CSA) or yoked-administration (CYA), alters the regulation of OFC function by 5-HT. Using whole-cell electrophysiology in brain slices from naïve rats we find that 5-HT1A receptors generate hyperpolarizing outward currents in layer-V OFC pyramidal neurons, and that 5-HT2A receptors increase glutamate release onto these cells. Following extended withdrawal from CSA or CYA, this 5-HT regulation of OFC activity is largely lost. In-situ hybridization of 5-HT receptor transcripts reveals that 5-HT1A receptor mRNA is unaffected and 5-HT2A receptor mRNA is significantly elevated after CSA or CYA. These results demonstrate that 5-HT control of OFC neurons is disrupted for extended periods following cocaine exposure. We hypothesize that this dysregulation of 5-HT signaling leads to enduring disruptions of OFC network activity that this is involved in impaired decision-making associated with cocaine addiction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew M Wright
- Electrophysiology Research Section, Cellular Neurobiology Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Intramural Research Program, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA
| | - Agustin Zapata
- Electrophysiology Research Section, Cellular Neurobiology Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Intramural Research Program, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA
| | - Michael H Baumann
- Designer Drug Research Unit, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Intramural Research Program, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA
| | - Joshua S Elmore
- Designer Drug Research Unit, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Intramural Research Program, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA
| | - Alexander F Hoffman
- Electrophysiology Research Section, Cellular Neurobiology Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Intramural Research Program, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA
| | - Carl R Lupica
- Electrophysiology Research Section, Cellular Neurobiology Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Intramural Research Program, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA
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Different functional domains measured by cocaine self-administration under the progressive-ratio and punishment schedules in male Wistar rats. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2018; 235:897-907. [PMID: 29214467 PMCID: PMC5823736 DOI: 10.1007/s00213-017-4808-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2017] [Accepted: 11/29/2017] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Current diagnosis of drug addiction like other mental disorders is based on clinical symptoms not on neural pathophysiology and consequently, does not provide useful information on the underlying pathophysiology and may impede the efforts to identify the underlying mechanisms. Identifying the functional deficits that are relevant to addiction and can be traced to the neural systems will greatly facilitate our understanding of the heterogeneity of the condition and improve future diagnosis and treatment. Cocaine addiction is characterized by the continued use despite the dire consequences, and the deficit in inhibitory control may play a key role in this process. This study aimed to develop a paradigm to measure the punishment-induced inhibitory regulation of reward-seeking behavior. METHODS Rats were first trained to self-administer sucrose pellets under a chained schedule and then the breaking points (BPs) under the progressive-ratio schedule, and the intensity-response effects of footshock punishment on sucrose SA were measured. Subsequently, the rats went on to self-administer intravenous cocaine, and the BPs and the punishment intensity-response effects were similarly determined. RESULTS The areas under the punishment intensity-response curves (AUCs) were calculated and used as an indicator of the sensitivity of the inhibitory system. The BPs for cocaine were not correlated with the AUCs. Furthermore, the change in the BPs for cocaine induced by changing cocaine dose did not predict the change in the AUCs. CONCLUSION The intensity-response effects of punishment can be used to measure the function or sensitivity of the inhibitory system independent of the motivational state.
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Inter-individual differences in decision-making, flexible and goal-directed behaviors: novel insights within the prefronto-striatal networks. Brain Struct Funct 2017; 223:897-912. [PMID: 29026986 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-017-1530-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2015] [Accepted: 09/28/2017] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Inflexible behavior is a hallmark of several decision-making-related disorders such as ADHD and addiction. As in humans, a subset of healthy rats makes poor decisions and prefers immediate larger rewards despite suffering large losses in a rat gambling task (RGT). They also display a combination of traits reminiscent of addiction, notably inflexible behavior and perseverative responses. The goal of the present work was twofold: (1) to elucidate if behavioral inflexibility of poor decision-makers could be related to a lower quality of goal-directed behavior (action-outcome associations); (2) to uncover the neural basis of inter-individual differences in goal-directed behavior. We specifically assessed inter-individual differences in decision-making in the RGT, flexibility in the RGT-reversed version and goal-directed behavior in a contingency degradation test, i.e., response adaptation when dissociating reward delivery from the animal's action. The contributions of the medial prefrontal cortex and the dorsal striatum to action-outcome associations were assessed using Zif268 immunodetection. Inflexible behavior was related to a lower sensitivity to contingency degradation in all poor decision-makers and only in a few good decision-makers. This poorer sensitivity was associated with a lower immunoreactivity in prelimbic and infralimbic cortices and a higher one in the dorsomedial and dorsolateral striatum. These findings suggest that an imbalanced prefronto-striatal activity could underlie inaccurate goal representation in changing environments and may promote maladaptive habit formation among poor decision-makers. These data strengthen our previous work identifying biomarkers of vulnerability to develop psychiatric disorders and demonstrate the relevance of inter-individual differences to model maladaptive behaviors.
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36
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Piao C, Liu T, Ma L, Ding X, Wang X, Chen X, Duan Y, Sui N, Liang J. Alterations in brain activation in response to prolonged morphine withdrawal-induced behavioral inflexibility in rats. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2017; 234:2941-2953. [PMID: 28762073 DOI: 10.1007/s00213-017-4689-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2017] [Accepted: 07/03/2017] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
RATIONALE The inability to stop a repetitive maladaptive behavior is a main problem in addictive disorders. Neuroadaptations that are associated with behavioral inflexibility may be involved in compulsive drug use. OBJECTIVES The aim of the present study was to investigate the pattern of behavioral inflexibility during morphine withdrawal and map brain activation that is linked to alterations in flexibility. METHODS We first analyzed the effects of chronic morphine exposure on reversal learning after 2-week (short-term) and 6-week (prolonged) morphine withdrawal. We then compared the level of neuronal activation using cFos immunohistochemistry in 15 brain areas between rats that underwent morphine withdrawal and saline-control rats after a test of reversal learning. RESULTS Only prolonged morphine withdrawal impaired reversal learning. Rats that exhibited impairments in reversal learning presented a significant decrease in cFos expression in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), including the medial, lateral, and ventral OFC. cFos expression significantly increased in the dorsomedial striatum and major subregions of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in the morphine group. Rats that underwent prolonged morphine withdrawal exhibited no significant changes in cFos expression in the dorsolateral striatum, nucleus accumbens, amygdala, paraventricular thalamic nucleus, or motor cortex. The rats that underwent short-term withdrawal did not present any changes in cFos expression in any of these brain regions. CONCLUSION Altogether, these data suggest that alterations in the function of the frontal cortex and its striatal connections during the late morphine withdrawal phase may underlie the disruption of inhibitory control in opioid dependence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chengji Piao
- Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,Sino-Danish Center for Education and Research, Beijing, China
| | - Tiane Liu
- Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Lian Ma
- Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Xuekun Ding
- Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Xingyue Wang
- Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Xing Chen
- Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Ying Duan
- Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Nan Sui
- Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China. .,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
| | - Jing Liang
- Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China. .,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
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Differential modulatory effects of cocaine on marmoset monkey recognition memory. PROGRESS IN BRAIN RESEARCH 2017; 235:155-176. [PMID: 29054287 DOI: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2017.07.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
Acute and repeated exposure to cocaine alters the cognitive performance of humans and animals. How each administration schedule affects the same memory task has yet to be properly established in nonhuman primates. Therefore, we assessed the performance of marmoset monkeys in a spontaneous object-location (SOL) recognition memory task after acute and repeated exposure to cocaine (COC; 5mg/kg, ip). Two identical neutral stimuli were explored on the 10-min sample trial, after which preferential exploration of the displaced vs the stationary object was analyzed on the 10-min test trial. For the acute treatment, cocaine was given immediately after the sample presentation, and spatial recognition was then tested after a 24-h interval. For the repeated exposure schedule, daily cocaine injections were given on 7 consecutive days. After a 7-day drug-free period, the SOL task was carried out with a 10-min intertrial interval. When given acutely postsample, COC improved the marmosets' recognition memory, whereas it had a detrimental effect after the repeated exposure. Thus, depending on the administration schedule, COC exerted opposing effects on the marmosets' ability to recognize spatial changes. This agrees with recent studies in rodents and the recognition impairment seen in human addicts. Further studies related to the effects of cocaine's acute×prior drug history on the same cognitive domain are warranted.
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Thompson AB, Gerson J, Stolyarova A, Bugarin A, Hart EE, Jentsch JD, Izquierdo A. Steep effort discounting of a preferred reward over a freely-available option in prolonged methamphetamine withdrawal in male rats. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2017; 234:2697-2705. [PMID: 28584929 PMCID: PMC6441328 DOI: 10.1007/s00213-017-4656-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2016] [Accepted: 05/23/2017] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
RATIONALE Drug addiction can be described as aberrant allocation of effort toward acquiring drug, despite associated costs. It is unclear if this behavioral pattern results from an overvaluation of reward or to an altered sensitivity to costs. OBJECTIVE Present experiments assessed reward sensitivity and effortful choice in rats following 1 week of withdrawal from methamphetamine (mAMPH). METHODS Rats were treated with either saline or an escalating dose mAMPH regimen, then tested after a week without the drug. In experiment 1, rats were given a free choice between water and various concentrations of sucrose solution to assess general reward sensitivity. In experiment 2, rats were presented with a choice between lever-pressing for sucrose pellets on a progressive ratio schedule or consuming freely-available chow. RESULTS In experiment 1, we found no differences in sucrose preference between mAMPH- and saline-pretreated rats. In experiment 2, when selecting between two options, mAMPH-pretreated rats engaged in less lever-pressing for sucrose pellets (p < 0.01) and switched from this preferred reward to the chow sooner than saline-pretreated rats (p < 0.05). This effect was not consistent with general reward devaluation or loss of motivation. CONCLUSIONS These findings demonstrate that mAMPH exposure and withdrawal lead to steeper discounting of reward value by effort, an effect that is consistent with the effect of mAMPH on discounting by delay, and which may reflect an underlying shared mechanism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew B. Thompson
- Department of Psychology, The Brain Research Institute, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Julian Gerson
- Department of Psychology, The Brain Research Institute, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Alexandra Stolyarova
- Department of Psychology, The Brain Research Institute, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Amador Bugarin
- Department of Psychology, The Brain Research Institute, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Evan E. Hart
- Department of Psychology, The Brain Research Institute, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - J. David Jentsch
- Department of Psychology, The Brain Research Institute, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA,Department of Psychology, The State University of New York, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY, USA,Integrative Center for Learning and Memory, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA,Integrative Center for Addictions, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Alicia Izquierdo
- Department of Psychology, The Brain Research Institute, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA. .,Integrative Center for Learning and Memory, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA. .,Integrative Center for Addictions, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
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Ferland JMN, Winstanley CA. Risk-preferring rats make worse decisions and show increased incubation of craving after cocaine self-administration. Addict Biol 2017; 22:991-1001. [PMID: 27002211 DOI: 10.1111/adb.12388] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2015] [Revised: 01/07/2016] [Accepted: 02/10/2016] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
Maladaptive decision-making may play an integral role in the development and maintenance of an addiction. Substance-dependent individuals make riskier choices on the Iowa Gambling Task, and these deficits persist during withdrawal and are predictive of relapse. However, it is unclear from clinical studies whether this cognitive impairment is a cause or consequence of drug use. We trained male Long-Evans rats on the rat Gambling Task, a rodent analogue of the Iowa Gambling Task, to determine how choice preference influenced, and was influenced by, cocaine self-administration, withdrawal and incubation of craving. Rats that exhibited a preference for the risky, disadvantageous options at baseline were uniquely and adversely affected by cocaine self-administration. Risky choice was exacerbated in these rats when decision-making was assessed during the same diurnal period as cocaine self-administration, whereas the choice pattern of optimal decision-makers was unaffected. This decision-making deficit was maintained during 30 days of withdrawal and correlated with greater cue-induced incubation of craving. Risk-preferring rats also made more drug-seeking responses during cocaine self-administration. These data demonstrate that poor decision-making prior to contact with addictive drugs is associated with a pro-addictive behavioural phenotype, characterized by further increased risky choice and heightened responding for drug both during cocaine self-administration and withdrawal. Such findings indicate that the elevated risky decision-making observed in substance-dependent populations is not merely circumstantial, but makes an important contribution to addiction vulnerability and severity that can now be effectively modelled in laboratory rats.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacqueline-Marie N. Ferland
- Department of Psychology, Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health; University of British Columbia; Canada
| | - Catharine A. Winstanley
- Department of Psychology, Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health; University of British Columbia; Canada
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40
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DePoy LM, Zimmermann KS, Marvar PJ, Gourley SL. Induction and Blockade of Adolescent Cocaine-Induced Habits. Biol Psychiatry 2017; 81:595-605. [PMID: 27871669 PMCID: PMC5359769 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2016.09.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2016] [Revised: 09/14/2016] [Accepted: 09/25/2016] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Cocaine use during adolescence increases vulnerability to drug dependence and decreases the likelihood that individuals will seek treatment as adults. Understanding how early-life cocaine exposure influences decision-making processes in adulthood is thus critically important. METHODS Adolescent or adult mice were exposed to subchronic cocaine, then behavioral sensitivity to changes in the predictive relationship between actions and their consequences was tested. Dendritic spines on the principal pyramidal neurons of the orbitofrontal prefrontal cortex (oPFC) were also imaged and enumerated. To determine whether cytoskeletal regulatory systems in the oPFC influenced decision-making strategies, we then inhibited the activity of Abl family and Rho kinases as well as NR2B-containing N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors. We also attempted to block the reinstatement of cocaine seeking in cocaine self-administering mice. RESULTS Adult mice with a history of subchronic cocaine exposure in adolescence engaged habit-based response strategies at the expense of goal-directed decision-making strategies and had fewer dendritic spines in the oPFC. Inhibition of the cytoskeletal regulatory Abl family kinases in the oPFC recapitulated these neurobehavioral deficiencies, whereas Rho kinase inhibition corrected response strategies. Additionally, the NR2B-selective N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonists ifenprodil and CP-101,606 blocked cocaine-induced habits; this was dependent on Abl family signaling in the oPFC. Ifenprodil also mitigated cue-induced reinstatement of cocaine seeking in mice self-administering cocaine. CONCLUSIONS We suggest that adolescent cocaine exposure confers a bias toward habit-based behavior in adulthood via long-term cellular structural modifications in the oPFC. Treatments aimed at mitigating the durable consequences of early-life cocaine use may benefit from targeting cytoskeletal regulatory systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren M. DePoy
- Departments of Pediatrics and Psychiatry, Emory University School of Medicine,Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Graduate Program in Neuroscience, Emory University
| | - Kelsey S. Zimmermann
- Departments of Pediatrics and Psychiatry, Emory University School of Medicine,Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Graduate Program in Neuroscience, Emory University
| | - Paul J. Marvar
- Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, GW Institute for Neuroscience, The George Washington University
| | - Shannon L. Gourley
- Departments of Pediatrics and Psychiatry, Emory University School of Medicine,Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Graduate Program in Neuroscience, Emory University,Contact: Shannon L. Gourley, PhD, Department of Pediatrics
- Graduate Program in Neuroscience, Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, 954 Gatewood Rd. NE, Atlanta GA 30329, 404-727-2482,
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41
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Saddoris MP, Sugam JA, Carelli RM. Prior Cocaine Experience Impairs Normal Phasic Dopamine Signals of Reward Value in Accumbens Shell. Neuropsychopharmacology 2017; 42:766-773. [PMID: 27604567 PMCID: PMC5240185 DOI: 10.1038/npp.2016.189] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2016] [Revised: 08/26/2016] [Accepted: 08/30/2016] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
Dopamine signals have repeatedly been linked to associative learning and motivational processes. However, there is considerably less agreement on a role for dopamine in reward processing, and therefore whether neuroplastic changes in dopamine function following chronic exposure to drugs of abuse such as cocaine may impair appropriate valuation of rewarding stimuli. To quantify this, we voltammetrically measured real-time dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) core or shell while rats received unsignaled deliveries of either a small (1 pellet) or large (2 pellets) reward. In drug-naive controls, core dopamine signals did not discriminate between reward size at any point, while in the shell dopamine encoded magnitude differences only in a slower postpeak period. Despite this lack of discrimination between rewards by the peak DA response, controls easily discriminated between reward options in a subsequent choice task. In contrast, phasic dopamine reward signals were strongly altered by cocaine experience; core dopamine decreased peak response but increased discrimination between reward magnitudes while shell lost phasic responses to reward receipt altogether. Notably, animals with cocaine-associated alterations in dopamine signals for reward magnitude failed to subsequently discriminate between reward options. These findings suggest that cocaine self-administration alters the ability for dopamine signals to appropriately assign value to rewards and thus may in part contribute to later deficits in behaviors that depend on appropriate outcome valuation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael P Saddoris
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Jonathan A Sugam
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Regina M Carelli
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
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42
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Lehner MH, Taracha E, Kaniuga E, Wisłowska-Stanek A, Gryz M, Sobolewska A, Turzyńska D, Skórzewska A, Płaźnik A. Low-anxiety rats are more sensitive to amphetamine in comparison to high-anxiety rats. J Psychopharmacol 2017; 31:115-126. [PMID: 27703043 DOI: 10.1177/0269881116667708] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
This study utilised the two injection protocol of sensitisation (TIPS) and the conditioned place preference test to validate and extend previous findings on the effects of amphetamine on positive reinforcement-related 50 kHz ultrasonic vocalisation (USV) in rats. We also examined changes in the expression of c-Fos and the NMDA receptor 2B (GluN2B) subunit, markers of neuronal activity and plasticity, in brain regions of rats in response to TIPS. We used low anxiety-responsive (LR) and high anxiety-responsive (HR) rats, which are known to exhibit different fear-conditioned response strengths, different susceptibilities to amphetamine in the TIPS procedure and different amphetamine-dependent 50 kHz USV responses. The LR rats, compared to the HR rats, not only vocalised much more intensely but also spent significantly more time in the amphetamine-paired compartment. After the second dose of amphetamine, the LR rats exhibited more c-Fos and GluN2B activation in layers II and III of the M1/M2 motor cortex area and prefrontal cortex (PRE, PRL, IL) and also presented with more GluN2B activation in the basal amygdala. These data reveal that HR and LR rats exhibit different levels of reactivity in the cortical-limbic pathway, which controls reward-related motivational processes. These findings contribute to the general hypothesis that heterogeneity in emotional processes is one of the causes of sensitisation to amphetamine and drug addiction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Małgorzata H Lehner
- 1 Department of Neurochemistry, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Ewa Taracha
- 1 Department of Neurochemistry, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Ewelina Kaniuga
- 1 Department of Neurochemistry, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, Warsaw, Poland
| | | | - Marek Gryz
- 1 Department of Neurochemistry, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Alicja Sobolewska
- 1 Department of Neurochemistry, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Danuta Turzyńska
- 1 Department of Neurochemistry, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Anna Skórzewska
- 1 Department of Neurochemistry, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Adam Płaźnik
- 1 Department of Neurochemistry, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, Warsaw, Poland.,2 Department of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology, Medical University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
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43
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Schoenbaum G, Chang CY, Lucantonio F, Takahashi YK. Thinking Outside the Box: Orbitofrontal Cortex, Imagination, and How We Can Treat Addiction. Neuropsychopharmacology 2016; 41:2966-2976. [PMID: 27510424 PMCID: PMC5101562 DOI: 10.1038/npp.2016.147] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2016] [Revised: 07/11/2016] [Accepted: 08/02/2016] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Addiction involves an inability to control drug-seeking behavior. While this may be thought of as secondary to an overwhelming desire for drugs, it could equally well reflect a failure of the brain mechanisms that allow addicts to learn about and mentally simulate non-drug consequences. Importantly, this process of mental simulation draws upon, but is not normally bound by, our past experiences. Rather we have the ability to think outside the box of our past, integrating knowledge gained from a variety of similar and not-so-similar life experiences to derive estimates or imagine what might happen next. These estimates influence our current behavior directly and also affect future behavior by serving as the background against which outcomes are evaluated to support learning. Here we will review evidence, from our own work using a Pavlovian over-expectation task as well as from other sources, that the orbitofrontal cortex is a critical node in the neural circuit that generates these estimates. Further we will offer the specific hypothesis that degradation of this function secondary to drug-induced changes is a critical and likely addressable part of addiction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Geoffrey Schoenbaum
- NIDA Intramural Research Program, Baltimore, MD, USA,NIDA Intramural Research Program, 251 Bayview Dr, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA, Tel: +1 443 722 6746, E-mail:
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44
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Perry CJ, Lawrence AJ. Addiction, cognitive decline and therapy: seeking ways to escape a vicious cycle. GENES BRAIN AND BEHAVIOR 2016; 16:205-218. [DOI: 10.1111/gbb.12325] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2016] [Revised: 08/14/2016] [Accepted: 08/25/2016] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- C. J. Perry
- Behavioural Neuroscience Division; The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health; Melbourne VIC Australia
- Florey Department of Neuroscience and Mental Health; University of Melbourne; Melbourne VIC Australia
| | - A. J. Lawrence
- Behavioural Neuroscience Division; The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health; Melbourne VIC Australia
- Florey Department of Neuroscience and Mental Health; University of Melbourne; Melbourne VIC Australia
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45
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Dargis M, Wolf RC, Koenigs M. Reversal learning deficits in criminal offenders: Effects of psychopathy, substance use, and childhood maltreatment history. JOURNAL OF PSYCHOPATHOLOGY AND BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENT 2016; 39:189-197. [PMID: 28533584 DOI: 10.1007/s10862-016-9574-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Deficits in reinforcement learning are presumed to underlie the impulsive and incorrigible behavior exhibited by psychopathic criminals. However, previous studies documenting reversal learning impairments in psychopathic individuals have not investigated this relationship across a continuous range of psychopathy severity, nor have they examined how reversal learning impairments relate to different psychopathic traits, such as the interpersonal-affective and lifestyle-antisocial dimensions. Furthermore, previous studies have not considered the role that childhood maltreatment and substance use may have in this specific cognitive deficit. Using a standard reversal learning task in a sample of N = 114 incarcerated male offenders, we demonstrate a significant relationship between psychopathy severity and reversal learning errors. Furthermore, we show a significant interaction between psychopathy and childhood maltreatment, but not substance use, such that individuals high in psychopathy with an extensive history of maltreatment committed the greatest number of reversal learning errors. These findings extend the current understanding of reversal learning performance among psychopathic individuals, and highlight the importance of considering childhood maltreatment when studying psychopathy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Monika Dargis
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1202 West Johnson St., Madison, Wisconsin, 53706, USA.,Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 6001 Research Park Blvd., Madison, Wisconsin, 53719, USA
| | - Richard C Wolf
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 6001 Research Park Blvd., Madison, Wisconsin, 53719, USA
| | - Michael Koenigs
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 6001 Research Park Blvd., Madison, Wisconsin, 53719, USA
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46
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Cox BM, Cope ZA, Parsegian A, Floresco SB, Aston-Jones G, See RE. Chronic methamphetamine self-administration alters cognitive flexibility in male rats. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2016; 233:2319-27. [PMID: 27037939 PMCID: PMC5207031 DOI: 10.1007/s00213-016-4283-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2016] [Accepted: 03/17/2016] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
RATIONALE Methamphetamine (meth) addiction is a chronically relapsing disorder that often produces persistent cognitive deficits. These include decreased cognitive flexibility, which may prevent meth addicts from altering their habitual drug abuse and leave them more susceptible to relapse. Multiple factors including low rates of compliance with research study participation and varied drug use patterns make the relationship between cognitive flexibility and relapse difficult to establish in clinical populations. OBJECTIVES Here, we combined an extended-access meth self-administration paradigm with an automated set-shifting task in rats to directly compare cognitive flexibility performance with meth-seeking behavior. METHODS Rats were pre-trained on an automated visual discrimination task, followed by 14 days of extended access (6 h/day) of meth or sucrose self-administration. They were then tested in the set-shifting task on strategy shift and reversal and subsequently assessed for cue-induced reinstatement of meth seeking. RESULTS Rats with a history of meth, but not sucrose, self-administration had selective deficits in reversal learning. Specifically, meth rats had an increase in the total number of errors and perseverative errors (corresponding to the old stimulus-reward association) following the reversal shift, which correlated with prior stable meth self-administration. However, no relationship was seen between errors during the reversal and cue-induced reinstatement. CONCLUSION The lack of association between meth-induced reversal deficits and cue-induced reinstatement to meth seeking indicates that these two domains may constitute independent pathologies of meth addiction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brittney M Cox
- Department of Neurosciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA
| | - Zackary A Cope
- Department of Neurosciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA
| | - Aram Parsegian
- Department of Neurosciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA
| | - Stan B Floresco
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Gary Aston-Jones
- Department of Neurosciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA
- Brain Health Institute, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, USA
| | - Ronald E See
- Department of Neurosciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA.
- Department of Psychology, Westmont College, 955 La Paz Road, Santa Barbara, CA, 93108, USA.
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Cocaine Self-Administration Experience Induces Pathological Phasic Accumbens Dopamine Signals and Abnormal Incentive Behaviors in Drug-Abstinent Rats. J Neurosci 2016; 36:235-50. [PMID: 26740664 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.3468-15.2016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
UNLABELLED Chronic exposure to drugs of abuse is linked to long-lasting alterations in the function of limbic system structures, including the nucleus accumbens (NAc). Although cocaine acts via dopaminergic mechanisms within the NAc, less is known about whether phasic dopamine (DA) signaling in the NAc is altered in animals with cocaine self-administration experience or if these animals learn and interact normally with stimuli in their environment. Here, separate groups of rats self-administered either intravenous cocaine or water to a receptacle (controls), followed by 30 d of enforced abstinence. Next, all rats learned an appetitive Pavlovian discrimination and voltammetric recordings of real-time DA release were taken in either the NAc core or shell of cocaine and control subjects. Cocaine experience differentially impaired DA signaling in the core and shell relative to controls. Although phasic DA signals in the shell were essentially abolished for all stimuli, in the core, DA did not distinguish between cues and was abnormally biased toward reward delivery. Further, cocaine rats were unable to learn higher-order associations and even altered simple conditioned approach behaviors, displaying enhanced preoccupation with cue-associated stimuli (sign-tracking; ST) but diminished time at the food cup awaiting reward delivery (goal-tracking). Critically, whereas control DA signaling correlated with ST behaviors, cocaine experience abolished this relationship. These findings show that cocaine has persistent, differential, and pathological effects on both DA signaling and DA-dependent behaviors and suggest that psychostimulant experience may remodel the very circuits that bias organisms toward repeated relapse. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Relapsing to drug abuse despite periods of abstinence and sincere attempts to quit is one of the most pernicious facets of addiction. Unfortunately, little is known about how the dopamine (DA) system functions after periods of drug abstinence, particularly its role in behavior in nondrug situations. Here, rats learned about food-paired stimuli after prolonged abstinence from cocaine self-administration. Using voltammetry, we found that real-time DA signals in cocaine-experienced rats were strikingly altered relative to controls. Further, cocaine-experienced animals found reward-predictive stimuli abnormally salient and spent more time interacting with cues. Therefore, cocaine induces neuroplastic changes in the DA system that biases animals toward salient stimuli (including reward-associated cues), putting addicts at increasing risk to relapse as addiction increases in severity.
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48
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Acute effects of cocaine and cannabis on reversal learning as a function of COMT and DRD2 genotype. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2016; 233:199-211. [PMID: 26572896 PMCID: PMC4700084 DOI: 10.1007/s00213-015-4141-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2015] [Accepted: 09/20/2015] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
RATIONALE Long-term cannabis and cocaine use has been associated with impairments in reversal learning. However, how acute cannabis and cocaine administration affect reversal learning in humans is not known. OBJECTIVE In this study, we aimed to establish the acute effects of administration of cannabis and cocaine on valence-dependent reversal learning as a function of DRD2 Taq1A (rs1800497) and COMT Val108/158Met (rs4680) genotype. METHODS A double-blind placebo-controlled randomized 3-way crossover design was used. Sixty-one regular poly-drug users completed a deterministic reversal learning task under the influence of cocaine, cannabis, and placebo that enabled assessment of both reward- and punishment-based reversal learning. RESULTS Proportion correct on the reversal learning task was increased by cocaine, but decreased by cannabis. Effects of cocaine depended on the DRD2 genotype, as increases in proportion correct were seen only in the A1 carriers, and not in the A2/A2 homozygotes. COMT genotype did not modulate drug-induced effects on reversal learning. CONCLUSIONS These data indicate that acute administration of cannabis and cocaine has opposite effects on reversal learning. The effects of cocaine, but not cannabis, depend on interindividual genetic differences in the dopamine D2 receptor gene.
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Briggs Z, O'Connor M, Jollans EK, O'Halloran L, Dymond S, Whelan R. Flexible emotion-based decision-making behavior varies in current and former smokers. Addict Behav 2015; 45:269-75. [PMID: 25746360 DOI: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2015.02.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2014] [Revised: 01/20/2015] [Accepted: 02/16/2015] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Suboptimal decision-making is a feature in the initiation and maintenance of substance use, often manifested in choosing for short-term benefits rather than long-term gain, and the failure to display cognitive flexibility, respectively. Studies of nicotine users typically focus on characterizing those who are already addicted; less is known about decision-making in former smokers. METHODS Non- (n=21), former daily- (n=23) and current daily smokers (n=24), completed the contingency-shifting variant Iowa Gambling Task (csIGT), in which the reward and punishment contingencies of the decks are systematically varied after 100 trials of the 'standard' IGT. Scores on the standard blocks of the csIGT provided an index of emotion-based decision-making, while the contingency-shifting blocks assessed flexible decision-making. Subjective ratings were also recorded at 20-trial intervals. RESULTS Both current and former smokers showed significantly impaired performance relative to non-smokers when making decisions during the standard blocks of the csIGT. Both former and non-smokers' awareness of the reward/punishment contingencies was significantly higher than those of current smokers at the end of the standard IGT. Both former and non-smokers had significantly better performance on the contingency shifting blocks, relative to current smokers. CONCLUSIONS The findings indicate that both current and former smokers display a suboptimal pattern of decision-making than non-smokers during the standard IGT. However, with respect to the ability to change behavior following reversed contingencies, former smokers are more similar to non-smokers than to current smokers. Former smokers were also more aware of the contingencies than current smokers.
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Kromrey SA, Gould RW, Nader MA, Czoty PW. Effects of prior cocaine self-administration on cognitive performance in female cynomolgus monkeys. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2015; 232:2007-16. [PMID: 25633093 PMCID: PMC4426227 DOI: 10.1007/s00213-015-3865-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2014] [Accepted: 11/25/2014] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
Cocaine use has been associated with cognitive impairments that may contribute to poor treatment outcomes. However, the degree to which these deficits extend into periods of abstinence has not been completely elucidated. This study tested whether prior experience self-administering cocaine affected acquisition of two cognitive tasks in 16 adult female cynomolgus monkeys. Seven monkeys had previously self-administered cocaine but had not had access to cocaine for 2 months at the start of this study. After monkeys were trained to respond on a touchscreen, associative learning and behavioral flexibility were assessed using a stimulus discrimination (SD) and reversal (SDR) task from the CANTAB battery. Performance on this task was monitored over the subsequent 3 months. Additionally, working memory was assessed with a delayed match-to-sample (DMS) task. Cocaine-naïve monkeys required fewer total trials and made fewer errors and omissions before acquiring the SD and SDR tasks compared with monkeys who had previously self-administered cocaine; two monkeys in the latter group did not acquire the task. However, this cognitive impairment dissipated over several months of exposure to the task. The number of sessions for touch training and delays required to establish a performance-based curve on the DMS task did not differ between groups. Results suggest that cocaine exposure can impair the ability to learn a novel task requiring behavioral inhibition and flexibility, even after an extended period of abstinence. However, this deficit did not extend to maintenance of the task or to acquisition of a working memory task.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah A Kromrey
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Medical Center Boulevard, Winston-Salem, NC, 27157-1083, USA
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