Social support, oxytocin and motivation for methamphetamine

甲基苯丙胺 (METH) 成瘾是一个主要的公共卫生问题，但目前尚无有效的治疗方法 治疗。尽管男性和女性都使用冰毒，但女性开始使用的年龄更年轻 与男性相比，冰毒的依赖率更高。女性也报告称，更容易接触到 创伤事件并经常开始用来应对心理问题。社会支持有积极作用 对压力应对的影响，也可能对成瘾有保护作用，并有助于促进 服用冰毒的动力下降。 雌性老鼠比雄性老鼠表现出更大的可卡因动机，社会住房（配对住房）减弱 女性而非男性吸食可卡因的动机。在这里，我们研究催产素 (OT) 是否介导 社会住房对冰毒动机的影响。假设社会住房的影响是 伏隔核核心 (NAcC) 中多巴胺 (DA) 释放的 OT 依赖性衰减介导 吸毒已被证实，并且这些影响对女性比对男性更大。 先前的研究已经证实，社会住房会减弱冰毒引起的 DA 增加 NAc 透析液和长期低剂量 OT 会减弱雌性大鼠使用 METH 的动机。长- 该项目的长期目标是了解社会住房如何影响男性的 METH 奖励效果 和女性，OT 在这方面的作用，以及慢性鼻内 OT 是否可以作为治疗剂 治疗女性和/或男性精神兴奋剂滥用。我们还将调查 DA 的回应 在隔离和社会饲养的雄性和雌性大鼠中进行伏核快速扫描循环伏安法（FSCV）。 这些研究的结果将表明 DA 在伏隔核中介导的作用 社会住房和 OT 对 METH 动机的影响。我们还将探讨慢性鼻内感染是否 OT 可用作治疗冰毒成瘾的治疗剂。

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.