Methamphetamine enhances the motivation for female rat sexual behavior

描述(申请人提供)：男性和女性吸食甲基苯丙胺(一种高度上瘾的滥用精神刺激性药物)的最显著影响之一是性欲增加，对性行为的需求和紧迫感永无止境。此外，与吸食可卡因和安非他明等其他精神兴奋剂的女性吸毒者相比，女性吸食冰毒的女性更有可能从事危险的性行为。这项拟议的工作将研究甲基苯丙胺促进雌性大鼠动机性行为的分子基础。具体地说，这个建议关注的是杏仁内侧核，它接受来自VTA的多巴胺能输入。杏仁内侧核已被证明是大脑中一个关键的激励区和性中心。这项建议的具体目的是测试杏仁内侧核在甲基苯丙胺激活女性性回路中的作用，并测试杏仁内侧核多巴胺在调导性动机增强中的作用。这项研究将在荷尔蒙刺激的雌性大鼠或用甲基苯丙胺或生理盐水治疗过的油处理的对照组中进行。我们将利用免疫细胞化学的分子和细胞技术，实时RT-PCR，以及向多巴胺或谷氨酸受体微量注射药物阻滞剂和损伤研究。这些目的将提供有关神经递质系统的行动的信息，这些神经递质系统可能是这种增强性动机的基础，这可能对通过药理学药物治疗甲基苯丙胺成瘾有影响。这项研究的潜在发现将促进我们对药物滥用在诱导性冲动和行为方面的理解，这可能在危险的性行为和疾病传播方面具有重要意义。在这个国家，从城市中心到农村城镇，冰毒的使用正在成为一种流行病，扰乱了家庭、社区和整个社会。使用甲基苯丙胺的动机之一是它极大地提高了性欲，而性欲与性传播疾病和意外怀孕的发生率上升有关。这项旨在了解甲基苯丙胺增强性动机的方法的提案，可能有助于提供一种打击甲基苯丙胺成瘾的途径。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): One of the most striking effects reported by male and female users of methamphetamine, a highly addictive psychostimulant drug of abuse, is an increase in sexual libido and an insatiable need and urgency for sex. In addition, female methamphetamine users are more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior compared to female users of other psychostimulant drugs such as cocaine and amphetamine. The proposed work will examine the molecular underpinnings of the facilitation of motivated sexual behavior in the female rat by methamphetamine. Specifically, this proposal focuses on the medial amygdala, which receives dopaminergic input from the VTA. The medial amygdala has been shown to be a pivotal motivational area and sexual center in the brain. The specific aims of this proposal are to test the role of the medial amygdala in the activation of the female sexual circuitry by methamphetamine and to test the role of dopamine in the medial amygdala in mediating the enhancement in sexual motivation. This research will be conducted in hormonally-primed female rats, or oil-treated controls, that have been treated with methamphetamine or saline vehicle. We will utilize molecular and cellular techniques of immunocytochemistry, real-time RT-PCR, in addition to microinfusion of pharmacological blockers to dopamine or glutamate receptors and lesion studies. These aims will provide information regarding the actions of the neurotransmitter systems potentially underlying this enhancement of sexual motivation, which could have implications for the treatment of methamphetamine addiction via pharmacological agents. The potential findings of this research will advance our understanding of drugs of abuse in the induction of sexual drives and behavior, which could have important implications in terms of risky sexual behavior and disease transmission. Methamphetamine use in this country, from the urban centers to the rural towns, is becoming an epidemic that disrupts the family, the community, and society as a whole. One of the motivations for the use of methamphetamine is that it dramatically increases sexual libido, which has been linked to a rise in the rate of sexually transmitted diseases and unplanned pregnancies. This proposal, which seeks to understand the ways methamphetamine increases sexual motivation, may be useful in providing an avenue to combat methamphetamine addiction.