Methamphetamine Induced Neuroplasticity and Female Reproductive Health

描述(申请人提供)：甲基苯丙胺(冰毒)是一种精神运动兴奋剂，与女性和男性性欲和行为的增加密切相关。尽管男性和女性同样有可能上瘾或使用冰毒，但对性行为的研究往往集中在男性吸毒者身上。当人们考虑到冰毒与艾滋病毒/艾滋病和意外怀孕等性传播疾病高度相关时，研究冰毒对女性影响的研究很少，这是非常令人担忧的。事实上，为什么冰毒会如此深刻地增强性冲动，目前尚不清楚，据我们所知，相对来说也没有被探索过。在我们最近的工作中，我们使用了一个啮齿动物模型来检查冰毒对女性性行为和潜在神经回路的影响。我们发现，冰毒增强了女性的性动机，但这种增强依赖于黄体酮。此外，联合应用卵巢激素(雌二醇和孕酮)和冰毒可增强杏仁内侧核和下丘脑腹内侧核的神经元激活，这两个脑核与女性的性行为有关。因此，目前应用的广泛的、长期的目标是了解调节女性药物-性联系的细胞和分子机制。我们将采用一种新的方法，利用一种损伤技术，选择性地针对参与调节冰毒效应的神经元，从而确定它们在药物-性关系中的作用。当前提案的具体目的是：(I)确定杏仁内侧核神经元的特定亚群是否与冰毒增强女性的性动机有关，(Ii)确定冰毒和卵巢激素是否诱导杏仁内侧核结构和神经化学可塑性，以及(Iii)研究药物-性关系的细胞和分子机制。促进我们对女性性动机和冰毒使用之间的神经生物学联系的理解的意义在于，我们有可能为女性上瘾的生物学基础揭示新的基础，这些基础涉及卵巢激素、自然奖励和药物诱导奖励的交叉作用。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Methamphetamine (METH) is a psychomotor stimulant that is strongly associated with increases in sexual drive and behavior in both women and men. Even though men and women are equally as likely to be addicted to or use METH, studies of sexual behavior often focus on male users. The paucity in studies examining the effect of METH in women is of great concern, when one considers the high correlation with sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS and unplanned pregnancies. In fact, why METH so profoundly increases sexual drive is unknown and, to our knowledge, relatively unexplored. In our recent work, we have employed a rodent model to examine the effects of METH on female sexual behavior and the underlying neural circuitry. We found that METH enhances sexual motivation in females, but this enhancement is dependent upon progesterone. Additionally, the combined administration of ovarian hormones (estradiol and progesterone) and METH enhances the neuronal activation in the medial amygdala and the ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus, two brain nuclei implicated in female sexual behaviors. Thus, the broad, long-term objective of the current application is to understand the cellular and molecular mechanisms mediating the drug-sex nexus in females. We will employ a novel approach that utilizes a lesion technique that selectively targets neurons involved in mediating the effects of METH, thus establishing their role in the drug-sex nexus. The specific aims of the current proposal are to (i) establish whether a specific subpopulation of medial amygdala neurons is responsible for METH enhanced female sexual motivation, (ii) determine if METH and ovarian hormones induce structural and neurochemical plasticity in medial amygdala and (iii) investigate the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the drug- sex nexus. The significance of advancing our understanding of the neurobiology that links female sexual motivation and METH use is the potential to uncover new foundations for the biological basis of addiction in women that involve the intersection of ovarian hormones, natural reward and drug-induced reward.