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Morales-Silva RJ, Perez-Perez Y, Alvarado-Torres J, Rivera-Aviles N, Rodriguez-Torres G, Gelpi-Dominguez U, Dominguez-Padovani B, Amador-Maldonado A, Sepulveda-Orengo MT. Sex-specific effects of chronic stress prior to cocaine exposure on cue- vs drug-induced relapse after prolonged abstinence. Behav Brain Res 2024; 474:115197. [PMID: 39128627 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2024.115197] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2024] [Revised: 08/07/2024] [Accepted: 08/08/2024] [Indexed: 08/13/2024]
Abstract
The comorbidity between cocaine use disorder (CUD) and trauma/stressor-related disorders suggests a connection between neurophysiological changes induced by stress and those that lead to cocaine use. Due to the unexpected and sometimes uncontrollable nature and timing of stressful life events, their capacity to induce drug use poses a significant challenge for the administration of cocaine relapse therapy. This study aims to investigate the impact of chronic stress applied prior to cocaine acquisition on the development of cocaine-seeking behavior after different periods of drug abstinence in male and female rats. Rats were exposed to five days of inescapable footshocks (chronic stress) before undergoing extended access cocaine self-administration. Different groups then underwent forced abstinence periods of 1, 15, or 30 days before cue- and cocaine-induced seeking tests. Results showed that, after 30 days of abstinence, stressed females exhibited higher cue-induced, but not cocaine-induced seeking, compared to female controls and to males. In contrast, at 30 days, stressed males showed higher cocaine-, but not cue-induced seeking, versus controls. Such sex-dependent alterations in motivation and drug effects following prolonged abstinence highlight the importance of considering sex-specific differences in stress-related addiction research. Ongoing work should evaluate other stressors and self-administration models to elucidate neurophysiological and hormonal mechanisms underlying the incubation of cocaine craving. Identifying shared pathways between chronic stress and addiction could offer novel strategies for treating trauma/stress-related substance use disorders in a sex-specific manner.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roberto J Morales-Silva
- Department of Basic Sciences, Ponce Health Sciences University-School of Medicine, Ponce Research Institute, Ponce, PR 00732, USA
| | - Yobet Perez-Perez
- Department of Basic Sciences, Ponce Health Sciences University-School of Medicine, Ponce Research Institute, Ponce, PR 00732, USA
| | - John Alvarado-Torres
- Department of Basic Sciences, Ponce Health Sciences University-School of Medicine, Ponce Research Institute, Ponce, PR 00732, USA
| | - Nilenid Rivera-Aviles
- Department of Basic Sciences, Ponce Health Sciences University-School of Medicine, Ponce Research Institute, Ponce, PR 00732, USA
| | - Genesis Rodriguez-Torres
- Department of Basic Sciences, Ponce Health Sciences University-School of Medicine, Ponce Research Institute, Ponce, PR 00732, USA
| | - Ursula Gelpi-Dominguez
- Department of Basic Sciences, Ponce Health Sciences University-School of Medicine, Ponce Research Institute, Ponce, PR 00732, USA
| | - Benjamin Dominguez-Padovani
- Department of Basic Sciences, Ponce Health Sciences University-School of Medicine, Ponce Research Institute, Ponce, PR 00732, USA
| | - Alexandra Amador-Maldonado
- Department of Basic Sciences, Ponce Health Sciences University-School of Medicine, Ponce Research Institute, Ponce, PR 00732, USA
| | - Marian T Sepulveda-Orengo
- Department of Basic Sciences, Ponce Health Sciences University-School of Medicine, Ponce Research Institute, Ponce, PR 00732, USA.
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Wunsch AM, Hwang EK, Funke JR, Baker R, Moutier A, Milovanovic M, Green TA, Wolf ME. Retinoic acid-mediated homeostatic plasticity in the nucleus accumbens core contributes to incubation of cocaine craving. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2024:10.1007/s00213-024-06612-x. [PMID: 38935096 DOI: 10.1007/s00213-024-06612-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2023] [Accepted: 05/10/2024] [Indexed: 06/28/2024]
Abstract
RATIONALE Incubation of cocaine craving refers to the progressive intensification of cue-induced craving during abstinence from cocaine self-administration. We showed previously that homomeric GluA1 Ca2+-permeable AMPARs (CP-AMPAR) accumulate in excitatory synapses of nucleus accumbens core (NAcc) medium spiny neurons (MSN) after ∼1 month of abstinence and thereafter their activation is required for expression of incubation. Therefore, it is important to understand mechanisms underlying CP-AMPAR plasticity. OBJECTIVES We hypothesize that CP-AMPAR upregulation represents a retinoic acid (RA)-dependent form of homeostatic plasticity, previously described in other brain regions, in which a reduction in neuronal activity disinhibits RA synthesis, leading to GluA1 translation and CP-AMPAR synaptic insertion. We tested this using viral vectors to bidirectionally manipulate RA signaling in NAcc during abstinence following extended-access cocaine self-administration. RESULTS We used shRNA targeted to the RA degradative enzyme Cyp26b1 to increase RA signaling. This treatment accelerated incubation; rats expressed incubation on abstinence day (AD) 15, when it is not yet detected in control rats. It also accelerated CP-AMPAR synaptic insertion measured with slice physiology. CP-AMPARs were detected in Cyp26b1 shRNA-expressing MSN, but not control MSN, on AD15-18. Next, we used shRNA targeted to the major RA synthetic enzyme Aldh1a1 to reduce RA signaling. In MSN expressing Aldh1a1 shRNA, synaptic CP-AMPARs were reduced in late withdrawal (AD42-60) compared to controls. However, we did not detect an effect of this manipulation on incubated cocaine seeking (AD40). CONCLUSIONS These findings support the hypothesis that increased RA signaling during abstinence contributes to CP-AMPAR accumulation and incubation of cocaine craving.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amanda M Wunsch
- Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, 97212, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, North Chicago, IL, 60064, USA
| | - Eun-Kyung Hwang
- Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, 97212, USA
| | - Jonathan R Funke
- Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, 97212, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, North Chicago, IL, 60064, USA
- Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Tufts University, Boston, MA, 02111, USA
| | - Raines Baker
- Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, 97212, USA
- College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, 32306, USA
| | - Alana Moutier
- Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, 97212, USA
- Yecuris Corporation, Tualatin, OR, 97062, USA
| | - Mike Milovanovic
- Department of Neuroscience, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, North Chicago, IL, 60064, USA
| | - Thomas A Green
- Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, 77555, USA
| | - Marina E Wolf
- Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, 97212, USA.
- Department of Neuroscience, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, North Chicago, IL, 60064, USA.
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Persistent increase of accumbens cocaine ensemble excitability induced by IRK downregulation after withdrawal mediates the incubation of cocaine craving. Mol Psychiatry 2023; 28:448-462. [PMID: 36481931 PMCID: PMC9812793 DOI: 10.1038/s41380-022-01884-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2022] [Revised: 10/30/2022] [Accepted: 11/10/2022] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
The incubation phenomenon, cue-induced drug craving progressively increasing over prolonged withdrawal, accounts for persistent relapse, leading to a dilemma in the treatment of cocaine addiction. The role of neuronal ensembles activated by initial cocaine experience in the incubation phenomenon was unclear. In this study, with cocaine self-administration (SA) models, we found that neuronal ensembles in the nucleus accumbens shell (NAcSh) showed increasing activation induced by cue-induced drug-seeking after 30-day withdrawal. Inhibition or activation of NAcSh cocaine-ensembles suppressed or promoted craving for cocaine, demonstrating a critical role of NAcSh cocaine-ensembles in incubation for cocaine craving. NAcSh cocaine-ensembles showed a specific increase of membrane excitability and a decrease of inward rectifying channels Kir2.1 currents after 30-day withdrawal. Overexpression of Kir2.1 in NAcSh cocaine-ensembles restored neuronal membrane excitability and suppressed cue-induced drug-seeking after 30-day withdrawal. Expression of dominant-negative Kir2.1 in NAcSh cocaine-ensembles enhanced neuronal membrane excitability and accelerated incubation of cocaine craving. Our results provide a cellular mechanism that the downregulation of Kir2.1 functions in NAcSh cocaine-ensembles induced by prolonged withdrawal mediates the enhancement of ensemble membrane excitability, leading to incubation of cocaine craving.
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Martinez Ramirez CE, Ruiz-Pérez G, Stollenwerk TM, Behlke C, Doherty A, Hillard CJ. Endocannabinoid signaling in the central nervous system. Glia 2023; 71:5-35. [PMID: 36308424 PMCID: PMC10167744 DOI: 10.1002/glia.24280] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2022] [Revised: 09/02/2022] [Accepted: 09/29/2022] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
It is hard to overestimate the influence of the endocannabinoid signaling (ECS) system on central nervous system (CNS) function. In the 40 years since cannabinoids were found to trigger specific cell signaling cascades, studies of the ECS system continue to cause amazement, surprise, and confusion! CB1 cannabinoid receptors are expressed widely in the CNS and regulate cell-cell communication via effects on the release of both neurotransmitters and gliotransmitters. CB2 cannabinoid receptors are difficult to detect in the CNS but seem to "punch above their weight" as compounds targeting these receptors have significant effects on inflammatory state and behavior. Positive and negative allosteric modulators for both receptors have been identified and examined in preclinical studies. Concentrations of the endocannabinoid ligands, N-arachidonoylethanolamine and 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG), are regulated by a combination of enzymatic synthesis and degradation and inhibitors of these processes are available and making their way into clinical trials. Importantly, ECS regulates many essential brain functions, including regulation of reward, anxiety, inflammation, motor control, and cellular development. While the field is on the cusp of preclinical discoveries providing impactful clinical and therapeutic insights into many CNS disorders, there is still much to be learned about this remarkable and versatile modulatory system.
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Affiliation(s)
- César E Martinez Ramirez
- Neuroscience Research Center and Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
| | - Gonzalo Ruiz-Pérez
- Neuroscience Research Center and Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
| | - Todd M Stollenwerk
- Neuroscience Research Center and Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
| | - Christina Behlke
- Neuroscience Research Center and Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
| | - Ashley Doherty
- Neuroscience Research Center and Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
| | - Cecilia J Hillard
- Neuroscience Research Center and Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
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Alonso IP, O'Connor BM, Bryant KG, Mandalaywala RK, España RA. Incubation of cocaine craving coincides with changes in dopamine terminal neurotransmission. ADDICTION NEUROSCIENCE 2022; 3. [PMID: 36081573 PMCID: PMC9451023 DOI: 10.1016/j.addicn.2022.100029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Relapse to drug use is one of the major challenges in treating substance use disorders. Exposure to drug-related cues and contexts triggers drug craving, which drives cocaine seeking, and increases the probability of relapse. Clinical and animal studies have shown a progressive intensification of cocaine seeking and craving that develops over the course of abstinence, a phenomenon commonly referred to as incubation of cocaine craving. Although the neurobiology underlying incubation of cocaine craving has been examined – particularly within the context of glutamate plasticity– the extent to which increased cocaine craving engenders mesolimbic dopamine (DA) changes has received relatively little attention. To assess whether incubation of cocaine craving is associated with alterations in DA terminal neurotransmission in the nucleus accumbens core (NAc), we used ex vivo fast scan cyclic voltammetry in female and male rats to assess DA dynamics following short access, long access, or intermittent access to cocaine self-administration followed by 28 days of abstinence. Results indicated that both long access and intermittent access to cocaine produced robust incubation of cocaine craving, which was associated with increases in cocaine potency. In addition, intermittent access self-administration also produced a robust increase in DA uptake rate at baseline. In contrast, short access to cocaine did not engender incubation of cocaine craving, nor produce changes in DA neurotransmission. Together these observations indicate that incubation of cocaine craving coincides with changes in DA transmission, suggesting that underlying changes in mesolimbic DA signaling may contribute to the progressive intensification of drug craving that occurs across periods of abstinence.
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Huerta Sanchez LL, Sankaran M, Li TL, Doan H, Chiu A, Shulman E, Shab G, Kippin TE, Szumlinski KK. Profiling prefrontal cortex protein expression in rats exhibiting an incubation of cocaine craving following short-access self-administration procedures. Front Psychiatry 2022; 13:1031585. [PMID: 36684008 PMCID: PMC9846226 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1031585] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2022] [Accepted: 11/25/2022] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Incubation of drug-craving refers to a time-dependent increase in drug cue-elicited craving that occurs during protracted withdrawal. Historically, rat models of incubated cocaine craving employed extended-access (typically 6 h/day) intravenous drug self-administration (IV-SA) procedures, although incubated cocaine craving is reported to occur following shorter-access IV-SA paradigms. The notoriously low-throughput of extended-access IV-SA prompted us to determine whether two different short-access IV-SA procedures akin to those in the literature result in qualitatively similar changes in glutamate receptor expression and the activation of downstream signaling molecules within prefrontal cortex (PFC) subregions as those reported previously by our group under 6h-access conditions. METHODS For this, adult, male Sprague-Dawley rats were trained to intravenously self-administer cocaine for 2 h/day for 10 consecutive days (2-h model) or for 6 h on day 1 and 2 h/day for the remaining 9 days of training (Mixed model). A sham control group was also included that did not self-administer cocaine. RESULTS On withdrawal day 3 or 30, rats were subjected to a 2-h test of cue-reinforced responding in the absence of cocaine and a time-dependent increase in drug-seeking was observed under both IV-SA procedures. Immunoblotting of brain tissue collected immediately following the cue test session indicated elevated phospho-Akt1, phospho-CaMKII and Homer2a/b expression within the prelimbic subregion of the PFC of cocaine-incubated rats. However, we failed to detect incubation-related changes in Group 1 metabotropic glutamate receptor or ionotropic glutamate receptor subunit expression in either subregion. DISCUSSION These results highlight further a role for Akt1-related signaling within the prelimbic cortex in driving incubated cocaine craving, and provide novel evidence supporting a potential role also for CaMKII-dependent signaling through glutamate receptors in this behavioral phenomenon.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura L Huerta Sanchez
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States
| | - Mathangi Sankaran
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States
| | - Taylor L Li
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States
| | - Hoa Doan
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States
| | - Alvin Chiu
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States
| | - Eleanora Shulman
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States
| | - Gabriella Shab
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States
| | - Tod E Kippin
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States.,Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States.,Neuroscience Research Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States
| | - Karen K Szumlinski
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States.,Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States.,Neuroscience Research Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States
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