Opioid and Psychostimulant Taking: Testing the Impact of Behavioral Economic Contexts

这个项目的广泛的、长期的目标是确定可能解释为什么使用物质的因素 疾病的发生，并确定最有效地减少药物使用的方法。这两个目标都是 与国家药物滥用研究所的使命相一致。更具体地说，是一种行为 这里将采用经济的方法对控制可卡因和阿片类药物的变量进行实验测试。 在药物滥用的动物(大鼠)模型中采取行为。上瘾已经被概念化为反复上瘾， 不适应选择药物而不是重要的非药物奖励。行为经济学的研究已经 发现决定在两种增强剂(奖励)之间做出选择的最重要因素之一是如何 它们沿着代词到补语的连续体相互作用。如果是替代品，就会提高一种的价格 增强剂导致增强剂消耗减少，而另一种的消耗增加，因为 受试者将相对更多的行为分配给现在更便宜的选项。如果相辅相成，增加了 一种增强剂减少了两种增强剂的消耗，但与直觉相反的是，受试者相对分配了 现在更昂贵的选择有更多的行为。如果他们是独立的，那么选择是相对的 对价格变化不敏感。对于像可卡因和阿片类药物这样的精神刺激剂如何 海洛因在替代性/互补性方面与非毒品替代品有关。这种知识鸿沟 极大地限制了我们解释、预测或修改这些药物和非药物之间的选择的能力 另类选择。这项提案将以三个具体目标来解决这一知识差距。具体目标1将 测试可卡因和海洛因的替代程度、独立性或互补性 多种非药物替代品(包括阳性和阴性增强剂)。特定目标2将 调查具有不同替代性/互补性的非药物增强剂的可用性如何 可卡因和海洛因影响毒品价值(根据行为经济学的定义，价值反映了 受试者为获得药物付出了很大努力)。特指目标3将测试这些药物如何与 非药物增强剂在从启蒙/娱乐使用向成瘾转变过程中的变化 调查间歇性准入自我管理前后的替代性/互补性(a 产生成瘾性行为的程序)。这项研究的完成将提供重要的新的 关于过度分配给药物的行为的责任因素的信息，这是 物质使用障碍，这是当今公共卫生的一个重大问题。通过了解是什么导致了过度 将行为分配给药物，我们可以学习如何最有效地改变行为，使药物 选择减少了，这些信息可以用来改进药物使用障碍的治疗。

The broad, long-term objective of this project is to identify factors that may explain why substance use disorders occur and to identify methods for most effectively reducing drug use. Both of these goals are aligned with the mission of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. More specifically, a behavioral economic approach will be taken here to experimentally test variables that control cocaine- and opioid- taking behavior in an animal (rat) model of drug abuse. Addiction has been conceptualized as repeated, maladaptive choice of drugs over important non-drug rewards. Research in behavioral economics has found that one of the most important factors determining choice between two reinforcers (rewards) is how they interact along the substitute-to-complement continuum. If substitutes, increasing the price of one reinforcer results in reduced consumption of that reinforcer and increased consumption of the other because subjects allocate relatively more behavior to the now cheaper option. If complements, increasing the price of one reinforcer reduces consumption of both reinforcers, but, counterintuitively, subjects allocate relatively more behavior to the now more expensive option. If they are independents, then choice is relatively insensitive to price changes. Little is known about how psychostimulants like cocaine and opioids like heroin relate to non-drug alternatives in terms of substitutability/complementarity. This knowledge gap significantly limits our ability to explain, predict, or modify choice between these drugs and non-drug alternatives. This proposal will address this knowledge gap with three Specific Aims. Specific Aim 1 will test cocaine and heroin’s degree of substitution, independence, or complementarity with respect to a variety of non-drug alternatives (including both positive and negative reinforcers). Specific Aim 2 will investigate how the availability of non-drug reinforcers of varying substitutability/complementarity with cocaine and heroin affects drug value (defined in terms of behavioral economics, where value reflects how much effort subjects make to obtain the drug). Specific Aim 3 will test how these drugs’ interactions with non-drug reinforcers change on the transition from initiation/recreational use to addiction by investigating substitutability/complementarity before and after intermittent access self-administration (a procedure that produces addiction-like behavior). Completion of this research will provide important new information about factors responsible for the excessive allocation of behavior to drugs that is a hallmark of substance use disorder, a significant problem for public health today. By learning what causes excessive allocation of behavior towards drugs, we can learn how to most effectively modify behavior such that drug choice is reduced and this information can be used to improve treatments for substance use disorder.