Project description:Transcriptional profiling reveals differential changes in the respective expression of oxytocin and CART mRNA levels in the nucleus accumbens and dorsal striatum of compulsive methamphetamine taking rats (nucleus accumbens)
Project description:Methamphetamine (METH) is a powerful stimulant that has caused addiction (compulsive drug seeking and taking behavior) in millions of people world-wide. METH abuse is also associated with negative impact on the brain. One feature of addiction is uncontrollable drug seeking despite adverse consequences and becomes habitual. To mimic this in a rat model, rats with a history of METH use are given the opportunity to earn METH accompanied by aversive shocks on their feet. Rats that continue to take METH are shock-resistant (SR) and rats that reduce their METH intake are shock-sensitive (SS ).Rats that self-administered saline are controls (CT). Thereafter, rats were injected intraperitoneally with the dopamine D1 receptor antagonist, SCH23390. SCH23390 caused substantial reduction of METH taking in a dose-dependent fashion. Stopping SCH23390 administration led to re-emergence of compulsive METH taking in the shock-resistant rats.
Project description:Methamphetamine (METH) is an extremely addictive drug which continues to cause significant harm to individuals and communities. Differences in patterns of abuse, amounts of METH taken, and in relapse rates exist among METH users who meet DSM-V criteria for METH use disorder (MUD). We are actively investigating the behavioral and molecular differences between compulsive and non-compulsive METH self-administering (SA) rats in the presence of a foot-shock which serves as an aversive stimulus. In the present study, we used male rats that were trained to self-administer METH (0.1 mg/kg/infusion, IV) on an FR-1 schedule for 20 days using a pattern of three 3-h sessions per day and followed by foot-shocks (0.18mA to 0.36mA) for the next 9 days. All the METH taking rats escalated their drug intake during the 20 days of training phase. During the foot-shock phase, a group of rats continued to self-administer METH in the presence of aversive stimuli and were called shock-resistant (SR, compulsive), whereas others who decreased their intake were termed shock-sensitive (SS, non-compulsive). Animals were euthanized 2 hours after the last SA session and the prefrontal cortex (PFC), nucleus accumbens (NAc), dorsal striatum (DStr) and midbrain (MBr) were isolated for RNA sequencing. RNA sequencing showed a large number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in all the brain regions. Our study supports the notion that studying multiple brain regions is critical for a comprehensive understanding of the interconnected neuroadaptive changes which are associated with substance use disorders (SUDs). The present study is of significant translational importance by further supporting the idea that targeting common DEGs identified across multiple brain regions might lead to the development of effective therapeutic approaches against MUD.
Project description:Transcriptional profiling reveals differential changes in the expression of oxytocin and CARTpt mRNAs in the nucleus accumbens and dorsal striatum of rats (striatum)
Project description:Methamphetamine administration causes differential alterations in gene expression and dynamic patterns of histone acetylation/hypoacetylation in the rat nucleus accumbens
Project description:Transcriptomic analysis of prefrontal medial cortex, hippocampus and nucleus accumbens of alcohol-preferring and nonpreferring rats