Article
Neurosciences
Kelle E. Nett, Alexa R. Zimbelman, Matthew S. McGregor, Vanessa Alizo Vera, Molly R. Harris, Ryan T. LaLumiere
Summary: Previous evidence suggests that the infralimbic cortex (IL) plays a role in inhibiting cocaine seeking behavior in rats. In this study, the researchers investigated whether IL activity and its outputs to the nucleus accumbens shell (NAshell) and amygdala are involved in encoding extinction contingencies following cocaine self-administration. They used optogenetic techniques to silence IL-NAshell or IL-amygdala activity after an unreinforced lever press during extinction training and found that inhibition of IL-NAshell or IL-amygdala activity impaired extinction retention.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Kyle Duffer, Zachary S. Gillis, Sara E. Morrison
Summary: When a Pavlovian cue is presented separately from its associated reward, some animals will acquire a sign tracking response while others will acquire a goal tracking response. Previous studies have shown that excitations in the nucleus accumbens encode the vigor of these behaviors. However, the signaling of inhibitory cue responses in the nucleus accumbens during Pavlovian conditioning and their relationship with reward devaluation and dopamine release remain unknown.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Alice Servonnet, Pierre-Paul Rompre, Anne-Noel Samaha
Summary: Reward-associated conditioned stimuli (CSs) can evoke conditioned approach behaviors and become attractive and pursued, but the effects of BLA -> NAc core neurons on the predictive and conditioned reinforcing properties of CSs are unclear.
BEHAVIOURAL BRAIN RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Franz R. Villaruel, Melissa Martins, Nadia Chaudhri
Summary: The neural circuit from the infralimbic cortex to the nucleus accumbens shell plays a crucial role in suppressing conditioned responding and renewal of CS responding. The IL-to-NAcS circuit is involved in both acquisition and expression of Pavlovian conditioning and is not exclusively dependent on extinction process.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Myrto Panopoulou, Oliver M. Schlueter
Summary: Frequent relapse hinders successful treatment of substance use disorders by triggering the retrieval of drug-associated memories. This study investigates the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying drug-induced memory retrieval using a conditioned place preference (CPP) procedure in mice. The results suggest that Ca2+-permeable AMPA receptors (CP-AMPARs) in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) play a key role in regulating the threshold for drug-induced retrieval and behavioral expression of drug memories.
MOLECULAR PSYCHIATRY
(2022)
Review
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Lucia Caffino, Francesca Mottarlini, Gianmaria Zita, Dawid Gawlinski, Kinga Gawlinska, Karolina Wydra, Edmund Przegalinski, Fabio Fumagalli
Summary: Drug addiction is a devastating disorder that poses a huge economic and social burden on modern society, with adolescents being particularly vulnerable. Research has shown that exposure to cocaine during adolescence confers a vulnerable endophenotype primarily by inducing changes in neuroplasticity.
BRITISH JOURNAL OF PHARMACOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Kyle D. Ketchesin, Darius D. Becker-Krail, Xiangning Xue, Rashaun S. Wilson, TuKiet T. Lam, Kenneth R. Williams, Angus C. Nairn, George C. Tseng, Ryan W. Logan
Summary: Substance use disorders disrupt sleep and circadian rhythms, increasing the risk of relapse. This study investigates the effects of cocaine and morphine on the diurnal rhythms of proteome in the nucleus accumbens (NAc), a key brain region for reward and motivation. The results show that cocaine and morphine differentially alter proteome diurnal rhythms in the NAc, with distinct proteins expressed at different times of the day. Cocaine altered proteins related to glucocorticoid signaling and metabolism, while morphine was associated with neuroinflammation. These findings provide insights into the regulation of NAc proteome and the differential effects of cocaine and morphine.
JOURNAL OF PROTEOME RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Jessica Goedhoop, Tara Arbab, Ingo Willuhn
Summary: By comparing two different experimental paradigms, this study reveals that dopamine signals contain both reward-related and action-related information. The action component of dopamine release is characterized by sustained signals, which reflect the motivation for appetitive action.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Alvin S. Chiu, Matthew C. Kang, Laura L. Huerta Sanchez, Anne M. Fabella, Kalysta N. Holder, Brooke D. Barger, Kristina N. Elias, Christina B. Shin, C. Leonardo Jimenez Chavez, Tod E. Kippin, Karen K. Szumlinski
Summary: The study found that single oral dosing with everolimus can reduce cocaine craving in addicted rats and reverse changes in vmPFC kinase activity and mGlu expression associated with cocaine craving. This effect may be achieved by facilitating the consolidation of extinction memory.
NEUROPSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Benjamin M. Siemsen, Sarah M. Barry, Kelsey M. Vollmer, Lisa M. Green, Ashley G. Brock, Annaka M. Westphal, Raven A. King, Derek M. DeVries, James M. Otis, Christopher W. Cowan, Michael D. Scofield
Summary: This study identified and characterized a specific subpopulation of nucleus accumbens neurons that receive dense prelimbic cortical input. These neurons play a crucial role in regulating cue-induced cocaine seeking behavior, but not sucrose seeking. Additionally, they undergo morphological changes during the peak of cocaine seeking. These findings provide insights into the neural mechanisms of drug relapse and offer a novel target for addiction therapeutics.
FRONTIERS IN CELLULAR NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Mary Tresa Zanda, Gabriele Floris, Stephanie E. Sillivan
Summary: This study found that the dosage of drugs and discriminative drug cues have different effects on the incubation of opioid craving, while the drug intake history also plays a role in the time-dependent drug-seeking.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Florence Allain, Benoit Delignat-Lavaud, Marie-Pierre Beaudoin, Vincent Jacquemet, Terry E. Robinson, Louis-Eric Trudeau, Anne-Noel Samaha
Summary: D-amphetamine maintenance therapy shows promise in reducing cocaine use by preventing sensitization-related changes in cocaine potency at the dopamine transporter (DAT).
NEUROPSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Lucia Caffino, Francesca Mottarlini, Giorgia Targa, Michel M. M. Verheij, Fabio Fumagalli, Judith R. Homberg
Summary: This study investigates the influence of SERT deletion on glutamate homeostasis in the NAc, and finds that SERT deletion leads to a reduction in glutamate signaling and further dysregulation in the glutamatergic synapse after cocaine self-administration.
BRITISH JOURNAL OF PHARMACOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Lucia Caffino, Francesca Mottarlini, Giorgia Targa, Michel M. M. Verheij, Judith Homberg, Fabio Fumagalli
Summary: The study found that the deletion of serotonin transporter (SERT) may sensitize the glutamatergic synapses of the nucleus accumbens core to long-term but not short-term intake of cocaine.
BRITISH JOURNAL OF PHARMACOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Medicine, Research & Experimental
Kiarash Eskandari, Mojdeh Fattahi, Esmail Riahi, Reza Khosrowabadi, Abbas Haghparast
Summary: Methamphetamine (METH) addiction is a major public health issue that is difficult to cure with standard therapies. Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) has shown promise in treating addiction by modulating neural activity. This study investigated the therapeutic effects of high- or low-frequency stimulation of the nucleus accumbens shell (NAcSh) on the extinction and reinstatement of METH-conditioned place preference (CPP). The results demonstrated that both high- and low-frequency stimulation reduced the extinction period of METH-induced CPP and prevented reinstatement of drug-seeking behavior.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Silas A. Buck, Mary M. Torregrossa, Ryan W. Logan, Zachary Freyberg
Summary: This article summarizes how drugs of abuse, particularly cocaine, opioids, and alcohol, alter DA release in the nucleus accumbens medial shell, examines the potential role of DA/glutamate co-release in mediating these effects, and discusses future directions for further investigating these mechanisms.
Article
Clinical Neurology
Sierra J. Stringfield, Mary M. Torregrossa
Summary: Adolescent cannabis use is associated with neurocognitive deficits and may impact the normative trajectory of brain maturation. Research suggests that adolescence is a vulnerable period where exposure to cannabinoids can lead to lasting changes in neurobiology and behavior. Multiple studies provide contrasting results on the residual effects of adolescent cannabis exposure.
PROGRESS IN NEURO-PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY & BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Brooke N. Bender, Mary M. Torregrossa
Summary: The study found that habitual drug seeking leads to plasticity in the DLS and behavior that is resistant to cue extinction, but the effects of cue extinction are restored when glutamatergic signaling in the DLS is blocked.
Review
Behavioral Sciences
Dana M. Smith, Mary M. Torregrossa
Summary: The amygdala plays a critical role in emotional processing and motivated behavior by processing the valence of environmental stimuli. It can encode positive valence and distinguish between stimuli of positive and negative valence, affecting the integration of environmental cues with positive valence.
BEHAVIOURAL BRAIN RESEARCH
(2021)
Editorial Material
Neurosciences
Mary M. Torregrossa
BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Matthew T. Rich, Yanhua H. Huang, Mary M. Torregrossa
Summary: The protocol demonstrates the use of optogenetic tools to reverse cocaine-induced plasticity in thalamo-amygdala circuits and reduce subsequent cocaine seeking behaviors in rats. This manipulation induces long-term reduction in the ability of cues associated with cocaine to induce drug seeking actions.
JOVE-JOURNAL OF VISUALIZED EXPERIMENTS
(2021)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Megan L. Bertholomey, Vidhya Nagarajan, Dana M. Smith, Mary M. Torregrossa
Summary: Persistent elevation of glucocorticoids due to chronic stress exposure can lead to mood and anxiety disorders. This study aimed to investigate the effects of chronic corticosterone (CORT) exposure on mood-related behaviors in female and adolescent rats. The results showed that females exhibited reduced anxiety and depressive behaviors compared to males.
FRONTIERS IN BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Brooke N. Bender, Mary M. Torregrossa
Summary: Intermittent access (IntA) models have been developed to mimic human cocaine use and have been shown to enhance pharmacological and behavioral effects of cocaine. This study examined sex differences and cue extinction in the IntA model. Results showed that IntA increased motivation for cocaine in females and facilitated punished cocaine self-administration in males. Additionally, after 10 days of IntA training, drug-seeking was dependent on DLS dopamine in males. These findings suggest that IntA is valuable for studying sex differences and early stages of drug use.
Editorial Material
Neurosciences
Mary M. M. Torregrossa
NEUROPSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY
(2023)
Review
Psychiatry
Michael R. Steinfeld, Mary M. Torregrossa
Summary: Substance use during adolescence is a known risk factor for the development of neuropsychiatric and substance use disorders in adulthood due to the critical brain development that occurs during this stage and can be altered by drug use. Despite efforts to educate youth about the negative consequences, the initiation of substance use remains common worldwide. Many questions remain regarding the predictors and consequences of adolescent drug use. Overall, the consumption of substances such as alcohol, cannabis, and nicotine during adolescence can lead to long-lasting changes in brain structures and networks, impacting behavior, emotion, and cognition.
TRANSLATIONAL PSYCHIATRY
(2023)
Article
Substance Abuse
Sierra J. Stringfield, Bryson E. Sanders, Jude A. Suppo, Alan F. Sved, Mary M. Torregrossa
Summary: This study investigates the effects of nicotine on cannabinoid self-administration and finds that nicotine increases the self-administration of cannabinoids. It suggests that the co-use of nicotine and cannabinoids promotes the use of cannabinoids beyond what would be taken alone.
NICOTINE & TOBACCO RESEARCH
(2023)
Meeting Abstract
Substance Abuse
M. L. Bertholomey, M. M. Torregrossa
ALCOHOLISM-CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH
(2022)
Meeting Abstract
Neurosciences
Sierra Stringfield, Mary Torregrossa
NEUROPSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY
(2021)
Meeting Abstract
Neurosciences
Sam-Moon Kim, Allison Cerwensky, Michael Wright, Alexis Egazarian, Ana Almeida, Jennifer Zeak, Sarah Aerni, Yianni Migias, Jude Suppo, Bryson Sanders, Marianne Seney, Yanhua Huang, Mary Torregrossa, Colleen McClung
NEUROPSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Sierra J. Stringfield, Mary M. Torregrossa
Summary: Adolescent self-administration of THC at moderate doses may produce behavioral and molecular alterations, including sex-dependent effects on working memory performance in adulthood. These results suggest that exposure to THC during adolescence can have lasting effects on cognitive function and brain development in adulthood.
PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY
(2021)