Suvorexant, an orexin/hypocretin receptor antagonist, attenuates motivational and hedonic properties of cocaine.

ABSTRACT: Orexins ('hypocretins') are peptides produced by neurons of the hypothalamus that project to structures implicated in reward and emotion processing. Converging evidence demonstrates functional roles of orexin signaling in arousal, sleep/wakefulness and motivated behaviors for natural and drug rewards. Suvorexant, a dual orexin receptor antagonist, recently received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration to treat insomnia. In Experiment 1, rats self-administered cocaine under a progressive-ratio schedule of reinforcement and the effects of suvorexant on motivation to self-administer cocaine were measured. In Experiment 2, the effects of suvorexant on cocaine reward were assessed by using a place conditioning paradigm, and 50-kHz ultrasonic vocalizations were also recorded to trac

SUBMITTER: Gentile TA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5645207 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature