A Novel Animal Model of Cocaine Addiction

描述：北美的可卡因成瘾是一个医学问题 巨大的社会和经济代价。大约有200万美国人使用 习惯性地吸食可卡因，而那些寻求治疗的人会发现它非同寻常 难以戒除，复发率很高。一种会有帮助的药物 在治疗的早期阶段控制对可卡因的渴望将会有所帮助 让患者留在治疗计划中。动物模型对于测试是必不可少的 潜在的治疗药物和用于评估潜在的神经生物学 吸毒。这项提案将解决上瘾的两个关键特征 进程。第一个是吸食可卡因的动机逐渐增强。 第二个是吸毒狂欢模式的出现。可卡因 大鼠的自我给药将被用来模拟这些基本的方面 人类吸毒。一种新的程序已经被开发出来，它允许连续 在整个24小时黑暗/光明周期中(在离散试验期间)获得可卡因。 会产生不同的摄取模式(无论是昼夜节律还是暴饮暴食)。 取决于试验的剂量和频率。总的目标是 这项提议是为了定义对成瘾者进行建模的关键因素 进程。具体地说，我们将(1)定义影响 从受控(昼夜节律)摄入量过渡到暴饮暴食、失调 自我管理的模式，(2)确定导致激励的因素 可卡因成瘾过程中的变化(如总摄入量、模式到 摄入量和非吸毒期)和(3)表征个体差异 暴饮暴食的模式的发展和增加的动机 自我注射可卡因。

DESCRIPTION: Cocaine addiction in North America is a medical problem with profound social and financial cost. Approximately 2 million Americans use cocaine habitually, and those seeking treatment find it extraordinarily difficult to abstain and relapse rates are high. A medication that would help control the cravings for cocaine during the early stages of therapy would help retain patients in treatment programs. An animal model is essential for testing potentially therapeutic drugs and for evaluating the underlying neurobiology of drug abuse. This proposal will address two key features of the addictive process. The first is a progressive increase in the motivation to take cocaine and the second is the emergence of binge patterns of drug use. Cocaine self-administration in rats will be used to model these fundamental aspects of human drug taking. A novel procedure has been developed that permits continual access to cocaine (during discrete trials) throughout the 24 dark/light cycle. Different patterns of intake (either circadian or binge-like) are engendered depending on the dose and frequency of the trials. The overall objective of this proposal is to define the critical factors that model the addictive process. Specifically we will (1) define the parameters that affect the transition from controlled (circadian) intake to binge-like, dysregulated patterns of self-administration, (2) identify factors that lead to motivational changes across the cocaine addiction process (such as total intake, pattern to intake, and drug-free periods) and (3) characterize individual differences in the development of binge-like patterns of intake and an increased motivation to self-administer cocaine.