Magd Boutany
Pronouns: He, Him
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: Magd Boutany, Lauren Rysztak, Emily Jutkiewicz
Presenter: 12
Abstract
Environmental stimuli that are associated with drug use may act as a trigger for drug relapse in humans and drug-seeking in laboratory rats. The objective of this project is to investigate the neurobiological mechanisms of drug paired stimuli underlying behavior to earn presentations of cocaine-paired cues. We hypothesized that increasing dopamine levels by systemic cocaine administration will increase the conditioned reinforcing effects of the cocaine-paired cues. To test this, we used the New Response Acquisition procedure. In the first phase, Pavlovian Conditioning (PAV), the experimental (Paired) group of rats received cocaine infusions (320 mcg/kg/inf) and presentation of a stimulus (white noise and light) simultaneously. The control (Unpaired) group received the same number of cocaine infusions and stimulus presentations as the Paired group, but administered independently. In the second phase, Acquisition (ACQ), two nose pokes were introduced into the operant chamber (active and inactive) and no cocaine was available. Only responding on the active nose poke produced the cocaine-paired stimulus. On the 4th day of ACQ, rats received a drug challenge of cocaine (10 or 18 mg/kg ip). During ACQ, Paired rats produced significantly more active nose pokes than inactive nose pokes and more active nose pokes as compared with the Unpaired rats. When given cocaine drug challenges, neither the Paired or Unpaired groups showed significant increases in active nose pokes as compared with vehicle-treated groups, contrary to our hypothesis. Therefore, our results suggest that increasing dopamine levels via cocaine administration does not significantly increase the conditioned reinforcing effects of cocaine-paired stimuli. Identifying the neurobiology of the reinforcing effects of drug-paired cues can help identify new targets for treatments for substance use disorders in humans.
Biomedical Sciences, Interdisciplinary, Natural/Life Sciences
