Peer-induced cocaine seeking in rats: Comparison to nonsocial stimuli and role of paraventricular hypothalamic oxytocin neurons.

ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to determine if social vs nonsocial cues (peer vs light/tone) can serve as discriminative stimuli to reinstate cocaine seeking. In addition, to assess a potential mechanism, an oxytocin (OT) promoter-linked hM3Dq DREADD was infused into the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus to determine whether peer-induced cocaine seeking is decreased by activation of OT neurons. Male rats underwent twice-daily self-administration sessions, once with cocaine in the presence of one peer (S+) and once with saline in the presence of a different peer (S-). Another experiment used similar procedures, except the discriminative stimuli were nonsocial (constant vs flashing light/tone), with one stimulus paired with cocaine (S+) and the other paired with saline (S-). A third

SUBMITTER: Hammerslag LR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9413367 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature