A novel paradigm to investigate regulation of drug intake in rats self-administering cocaine or heroin intravenously

Cocaine cues retain silent traces of an excitatory history after conversion into conditioned inhibitors: 'the ghost in the addict'

The present experiment investigated the extent to which the A+/AB- conditioned inhibition procedure could counteract an excitatory drug-related conditioning history. In two groups of rats, a light stimulus was established as a signal for the absence of cocaine. For the History group, the light had previously been a discriminative stimulus (S) that occasioned cocaine self-administration and could thus be classified as a cocaine excitor. In comparison, the No-History group first encountered the light during conditioned inhibition training. During conditioned inhibition training, both groups self-administered cocaine during tone as well as during click Ss, whereas drug seeking was eliminated in click-plus-light, wherein cocaine was not available (A+/AB-). Drug seeking was essentially eliminated in both groups. Nevertheless, on a summation test the light reduced cocaine seeking occasioned by the tone S by 95% in the No-History group, but by less than 50% in the History group. This summation test result showed that the effects of a drug-related history persisted even after the light was converted into an effective conditioned inhibitor on the training baseline through the powerful A+/AB- procedure. Future research should seek procedures that produce even stronger conditioned inhibition that eliminates such residual 'silent' drug excitation, the 'ghost in the addict'.

Conflation of cocaine seeking and cocaine taking responses in IV self-administration experiments in rats: methodological and interpretational considerations

IV drug self-administration is a special case of an operant task. In most operant experiments, the instrumental response that completes the schedule requirement is separate and distinct from the consumptive response (e.g. eating or drinking) that follows the delivery of the reinforcing stimulus. In most IV self-administration studies drug seeking and drug taking responses are conflated. The instrumental lever press or nose poke is also a consumptive response. The conflation of these two response classes has important implications for interpretation of the data as they are differentially regulated by dose and price. The types of pharmacological pretreatments that affect appetitive responses are not necessarily the same as those that affect consumptive responses suggesting that the neurobiology of the two response classes are to some extent controlled by different mechanisms. This review discusses how schedules of reinforcement and behavioral economic analyses can be used to assess the regulation of drug seeking and drug taking separately. New methods are described that allow the examination of appetitive or consumptive responding in isolation and provide subjects with greater control over the self-administered dose. These procedures provide novel insights into the regulation of drug intake. Cocaine intake patterns that result in large, intermittent spikes in cocaine levels are shown to produce increases in appetitive responding (i.e. drug seeking). The mechanisms that control drug intake should be considered distinct from appetitive and motivational processes and should be taken into consideration in future IV self-administration studies.

Cocaine dose and self-administration history, but not initial cocaine locomotor responsiveness, affects sensitization to the motivational effects of cocaine in rats

Cocaine addiction is a significant and complex disease. Part of this complexity is caused by the variability of the drug experience early in drug use (initial responsiveness, amount of use, etc.). In rats, individual differences in initial cocaine responsiveness and cocaine self-administration history both predict the development of cocaine sensitization, a putative mechanism contributing to the development of cocaine addiction. Here, we sought to determine the role of these factors and cocaine dose on the development of sensitization to cocaine's motivational effects during the earliest stages of self-administration. Rats were classified as either low or high cocaine responders (LCRs or HCRs, respectively) based on acute cocaine-induced locomotor activity (10 mg/kg i.p.) before learning to self-administer cocaine (0.6 mg/kg/infusion i.v.) under a fixed ratio 1 (FR1) schedule of reinforcement. After acquisition, rats self-administered cocaine (0.6 or 1.2 mg/kg/infusion) under a progressive ratio (PR) schedule of reinforcement either immediately or after an additional five FR1 sessions (0.6 or 1.2 mg/kg/infusion). No LCR/HCR differences in sensitization were observed. However, regardless of LCR/HCR classification, exposure to the higher dose of cocaine produced sensitization to cocaine's motivational effects on the PR schedule (i.e., increased break points) and an escalation of consumption on the FR schedule. Thus, our results reveal a novel model for studying escalation and sensitization very early after acquisition and suggest that sensitization may be important in the earliest stages of the cocaine addiction process.

Orexin / hypocretin 1 receptor antagonist reduces heroin self-administration and cue-induced heroin seeking

The orexin/hypocretin system is involved in several addiction-related behaviors. In the present experiments, we examined the involvement of orexin in heroin reinforcement and relapse by administering the orexin 1 receptor antagonist SB-334867 prior to heroin self-administration or prior to cue-induced or heroin-induced reinstatement of extinguished heroin seeking in male Sprague Dawley rats. SB-334867 (30 mg/kg, intraperitoneal) reduced heroin intake during self-administration under fixed ratio-1 and progressive ratio schedules. SB-334867 also attenuated reinstatement of heroin seeking elicited by cues, but not reinstatement elicited by a heroin prime. These results indicate that orexin antagonism reduces heroin self-administration, and they support a role for orexin in cue-triggered drug relapse.

Regulation of cocaine self-administration in humans: lack of evidence for loading and maintenance phases

BACKGROUND

In rodents, cocaine self-administration under a fixed-ratio schedule and with timeout intervals limited to the duration of the infusions is characterized by an initial burst of drug intake (loading) followed by more stable infusion rates (maintenance). We sought to examine whether similar phases might characterize self-regulated cocaine use in humans.

METHODS

31 Non-treatment seeking, cocaine dependent subjects participated in three (8, 16, and 32 mg/70 kg/infusion), self-regulated, 2-h cocaine self-administration sessions under a fixed-ratio 1, 5-min timeout schedule. Data were assessed for visual (e.g., by graphs of cumulative numbers of infusions) and statistical evidence of change in phase (by step-function analyses of individual infusion rates).

RESULTS

Graphs of cumulative infusions over time suggested a single, linear rate of self-administration over 2h at each cocaine dose. Statistical analyses of infusion data by generalized estimating equation (GEE) models also failed to support a loading/maintenance pattern (suggesting, if anything, the possibility of increasing infusion rates over time).

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings fail to support the existence of distinct loading and maintenance phases of self-regulated cocaine administration in humans at behaviorally relevant doses. Several factors may account for these observations including differences between humans and rodents in self-regulated drug intake.