Self-administration of heroin and incubation of heroin-seeking in adolescent vs. adult male rats.

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Self-administration of heroin and incubation of heroin-seeking in adolescent vs. adult male rats. James Doherty1*, Patrick Dunigan1, Chen Li1, Adria Lee1, Bonnie Williams1 and Kyle Frantz1 1 Georgia State University, Neuroscience Institute and Biology Department, United States Heroin abuse is prevalent among human adolescents. Yet few laboratory experiments explore adolescent sensitivity to heroin using animal models, such as intravenous drug self-administration and reinstatement of drug-seeking after abstinence. In this study, adolescent (postnatal day 35 start) and adult (postnatal day 86 at start) male Sprague-Dawley rats spontaneously acquired lever-pressing maintained by heroin. In Experiment 1, 13 days of self-administration on fixed ratio 1 (FR1) schedule of reinforcement (0.05, then 0.025 mg/kg/infusion; 3 hr-sessions) were followed by a reinstatement test after 1 or 12 days of abstinence. Adolescents took more heroin and exhibited higher rates of non-reinforced responding, compared to adults. In reinstatement, adolescent-onset groups exhibited less heroin-seeking than older adults, and levels of reinstatement increased between 1 and 12 days of abstinence for both age groups (incubation). In Experiment 2, 9 days of acquisition (0.05 mg/kg/infusion; 3 days each on FR1, 2, and 5) were followed by 9 days of testing on a progressive ratio (PR) schedule (0.0125, 0.05, or 0.1 mg/kg/infusion; max 9-hr sessions), and a reinstatement test after 12 days of abstinence. No age differences in self-administration or reinstatement were observed. Body weight and fecal boli were quantified, and heroin affected these somatic signs less in adolescents than adults. Overall, this study suggests that younger rats may be less sensitive than adults to some acute and long-term effects of heroin. Thus, further investigation of adolescent rats may reveal neuroprotective factors that could be mimicked for relapse prevention in humans. Conference: 2010 South East Nerve Net (SENN) and Georgia/South Carolina Neuroscience Consortium (GASCNC) conferences, Atlanta , United States, 5 Mar - 7 Mar, 2010. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Posters Citation: Doherty J, Dunigan P, Li C, Lee A, Williams B and Frantz K (2010). Self-administration of heroin and incubation of heroin-seeking in adolescent vs. adult male rats.. Front. Neurosci. Conference Abstract: 2010 South East Nerve Net (SENN) and Georgia/South Carolina Neuroscience Consortium (GASCNC) conferences. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnins.2010.04.00038 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 16 Mar 2010; Published Online: 16 Mar 2010. * Correspondence: James Doherty, Georgia State University, Neuroscience Institute and Biology Department, Atlanta, United States, jdoherty1@gsu.edu Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers James Doherty Patrick Dunigan Chen Li Adria Lee Bonnie Williams Kyle Frantz Google James Doherty Patrick Dunigan Chen Li Adria Lee Bonnie Williams Kyle Frantz Google Scholar James Doherty Patrick Dunigan Chen Li Adria Lee Bonnie Williams Kyle Frantz PubMed James Doherty Patrick Dunigan Chen Li Adria Lee Bonnie Williams Kyle Frantz Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.