Social support, oxytocin and motivation for methamphetamine

对甲基苯丙胺(冰毒)上瘾是一个主要的公共卫生问题，然而没有有效的 治疗。虽然男性和女性都使用冰毒，但女性开始使用冰毒时更年轻 冰毒，并表现出比男性更高的依赖率。女性也报告有更高的暴露在 创伤事件，并经常开始使用，以应对心理问题。社会支持有积极的作用 对应对压力有影响，也可能对戒瘾有保护作用，有助于促进 吸食冰毒的动机减弱。 雌性大鼠比雄性大鼠表现出更大的可卡因动机，社会住房(配对住房)减弱 女性吸食可卡因的动机，而不是男性。在这里，我们研究催产素(OT)是否介导了 社会住房对冰毒动机的影响。据推测，社会住房的影响是 依赖OT抑制伏隔核(NACC)多巴胺(DA)释放 吸毒是既定的，而且这些影响在女性中将比男性更大。 先前的研究已经证实，社会住房可以减弱冰毒诱导的脑内DA增加 NAC的透析液和慢性低剂量OT可减弱雌性大鼠的冰毒动机。长的- 该项目的学期目标是了解社会住房如何影响男性冰毒的奖励效应。 和女性，催产素在这方面的作用，以及慢性鼻腔催产素是否可以作为治疗药物。 女性和/或男性精神刺激性虐待的治疗。我们还将调查反兴奋剂机构在 隔离和群居雌雄大鼠伏隔核快速扫描循环伏安法(FSCV)。 这些研究的结果将为伏隔核中DA的调节作用提供一个迹象 社会住房和加班对冰毒动机的影响。我们还将探讨慢性鼻腔内注射 OT可作为治疗冰毒成瘾的药物。

Addiction to methamphetamine (METH) is a major public health concern, however there are no effective treatments. Although METH is used by both men and women, women are younger when they start using METH, and show higher rates of dependence compare to men. Women also report a higher exposure to traumatic events and often start using to cope with psychological problems. Social support has a positive influence on stress-coping and might also have protective effects against addiction and help promote decreased motivation to take METH. Females show greater motivation for cocaine than male rats and social housing (pair housing) attenuates the motivation for cocaine in females but not males. Here we investigate whether oxytocin (OT) mediates the effects of social housing on motivation for METH. It is hypothesized that the effects of social housing are mediated by OT-dependent attenuation of dopamine (DA) release in the nucleus accumbens core (NAcC) after drug taking is established and that these effects will be greater in females than in males. Previous research has established that social housing attenuates the METH-induced increase in DA in dialysate from the NAc, and chronic low dose OT attenuates the motivation for METH in female rats. The long- term goal of this project is to understand how social housing influences the rewarding effects of METH in males and females, the role of OT in this regard, and whether chronic intranasal OT may be a therapeutic agent for treatment of psychostimulant abuse in females and/or males. We will also investigate DA responses in the nucleus accumbens fast-scan cyclic voltammetry (FSCV) in isolated and socially-housed male and female rats. The results of these studies will provide an indication of the role of DA in the nucleus accumbens to mediate the effects of social housing and OT on motivation for METH. We will also explore whether chronic intranasal OT can be used as a therapeutic agent for the treatment of METH-addiction.