Melanie Vocelle
Pronouns:
Research Mentor(s): Emily Jutkiewicz
Co-Presenter:
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Pharmacology / Medicine
Presentation Date: April 20
Presentation Type: Poster
Session: Session 3 – 1:40pm – 2:30 pm
Room: League Ballroom
Authors: Melanie Vocelle, Gwen Burgess, Emily Jutkiewicz
Presenter: 15
Abstract
Chronic pain affects approximately 1 in 5 Americans. The presence of chronic pain is known to reduce regular daily behaviors in some patients. While opioids are not always first line treatments for chronic pain, they are second- and third-line treatments for chronic pain and are often used in combination therapy. It is well known that opioids can also decrease regular daily behaviors as they have sedative-like effects. The purpose of this project is to determine the extent to which the impact of opioids and other drugs of abuse on non-drug seeking behavior in the presence an absence of chronic pain in both male and female rats. To study this, rats were trained to respond for sucrose pellets on a fixed ratio 5 (FR5) schedule of reinforcement in daily multi-component sessions. These sessions consisted of 3 components with 15 min blackouts during which sucrose pellets are not available followed by a 5-minute responding period for sucrose pellets. While data collection is still ongoing, we hypothesized that prior to surgery all drugs tested will decrease sucrose pellet intake in both males in females. Further, we expect that we will see differences in potency in each drug class such that fentanyl > morphine > nalbuphine and amphetamine > cocaine. Following surgery, we hypothesize MOR agonist drug challenges will become less potent following SNI surgery and that these changes may, however, we do not expect to see changes in the other drug classes (cocaine, amphetamine, THC, SNC80). We expect that the MOR agonists potency will decrease further in females than in males. amphetamine, cocaine, and THC produced a more potent suppression of pellet intake and rates of responding in females than in males. Overall, this study provides us information about how chronic pain states might alter the ability of these drugs to alter daily behavior and how drug effects may alter these changes in behavior. Additionally, we expect these studies to be a useful comparison for drug self-administration studies as this study provides an assessment of the impact of pain on another primary reinforcer, sucrose.
Biomedical Sciences, Interdisciplinary, Natural/Life Sciences
