12 research outputs found
Quantitative Autoradiography of Mu-Opioid Receptors in the CNS of High-Alcohol-Drinking (HAD) and Low-Alcohol-Drinking (LAD) Rats
Maternal Separation Alters Acquisition of Ethanol Intake in Male Ethanol-Preferring AA Rats
Expression and imprinting analysis of AK044800, a transcript from the Dlk1-Dio3 imprinted gene cluster during mouse embryogenesis
Motivational effects of opiates in conditioned place preference and aversion paradigm—a study in three inbred strains of mice
Alterations in Central Preproenkephalin mRNA Expression After Chronic Free-Choice Ethanol Consumption by Fawn-Hooded Rats
Affective Cue-Induced Escalation of Alcohol Self-Administration and Increased 22-kHz Ultrasonic Vocalizations during Alcohol Withdrawal: Role of Kappa-Opioid Receptors
Negative affect promotes dysregulated alcohol consumption in non-dependent and alcohol-dependent animals, and cues associated with negative affective states induce withdrawal-like symptoms in rats. This study was designed to test the hypotheses that: (1) the kappa-opioid receptor (KOR) system mediates phenotypes related to alcohol withdrawal and withdrawal-like negative affective states and (2) cues associated with negative affective states would result in dysregulated alcohol consumption when subsequently presented alone. To accomplish these goals, intracerebroventricular infusion of the KOR antagonist nor-binaltorphimine (nor-BNI) was assessed for the ability to attenuate the increase in 22-kHz ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) associated with alcohol withdrawal and KOR activation in adult male wistar rats. Furthermore, cues associated with a KOR agonist-induced negative affective state were assessed for the ability to dysregulate alcohol consumption and the efficacy of intracerebroventricular KOR antagonism to reduce such dysregulation was evaluated. KOR antagonism blocked the increased number of 22-kHz USVs observed during acute alcohol withdrawal and a KOR agonist (U50,488) resulted in a nor-BNI reversible increase in 22-kHz USVs (mimicking an alcohol-dependent state). Additionally, cues associated with negative affective states resulted in escalated alcohol self-administration, an effect that was nor-BNI sensitive. Taken together, this study implicates negative affective states induced by both alcohol withdrawal and conditioned stimuli as being produced, in part, by activity of the DYN/KOR system