The medial prefrontal cortex is required for responding to alcohol-predictive cues but only in the absence of alcohol delivery

Background: The prelimbic medial prefrontal cortex is implicated in promoting drug-seeking in relapse tests. However, drug-seeking behaviour is typically extinguished before a test and tests normally occur without drug delivery. Aims: We investigated the involvement of the prelimbic and the infralimbic cortex in responding elicited by a non-extinguished cue for alcohol that was presented without alcohol in an alcohol-associated context or a neutral context, and in responding to the same cue when it was paired with alcohol. Methods: Male, Long-Evans rats (220–240 g on arrival) were acclimated to 15% ethanol (v/v; ‘alcohol’) and then trained to associate a conditioned stimulus (10 s white noise; 15 trials/session) with alcohol delivery into a fluid port (0.2 mL/conditioned stimulus, 3 mL per session) for oral intake. Conditioning sessions occurred in a specific ‘alcohol context’ and were alternated daily with exposure to a second ‘neutral’ context that contained neither the conditioned stimulus nor alcohol. Results: At test, functional prelimbic cortex inactivation using baclofen/muscimol reduced fluid port entries elicited by a non-extinguished conditioned stimulus that was presented without alcohol, but had no subsequent impact on port entries when the conditioned stimulus was paired with alcohol. Similar results were obtained following infralimbic cortex inactivation; however, infralimbic cortex inactivation also non-specifically reduced port entries in the absence of alcohol. Conclusions: These data indicate that the prelimbic and infralimbic cortex are involved in responding to cues for alcoho

Palatable food self-administration and reinstatement are not affected by dual orexin receptor antagonism

The effect of central microinjections of the dual orexin receptor antagonist, TCS 1102, on palatable food seeking in rats.<br><br>Data for a paper in Progress in Neuropsychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry.<br><br><br

Conditioned Punishment Med PC programs

Operant Behaviour Programs for Med Associates chambers. These programs will run a conditioned punishment protocol, including magazine training, single and double lever variable interval sessions and conditioned punishment.<br><br>Mirrored from Github.<br

Effect of TCS 1102 on nicotine-seeking

Dataset for a series of experiments examining the effect of the dual orexin receptor antagonist, TCS 1102, on nicotine self-administration and reinstatement. Paper published in PLoS ONE.<br><br>Khoo S.Y-S., McNally G.P., & Clemens K.J. (2017). The dual orexin receptor antagonist TCS1102 does not affect reinstatement of nicotine-seeking. PLoS ONE 12(3): e0173967.<br

The Orexin/Hypocretin Synapse

<p>The orexin/hypocretin synapse is shown including the synthesis of endogenous ligands, the application of synthetic antagonists and downstream signalling cascades of the orexin receptors.</p> <p>Abbreviations: AKAP, A-kinase anchor protein, ATP, adenosine triphosphate, DAG, diacylglycerol, DGL, diacylglycerol lipase, ERK, extracellular signal-regulated kinase, HCRT, hypocretin, IP3, inositol triphosphate, mTOR, mammalian target of rapamycin, NCX, sodium-calcium exchanger, OX, orexin, PA, phosphatidic acid, PIP2, phosphatidylinositol bisphosphate, PIP5K, phosphatidylinositol phosphate 5-kinase, PKA, protein kinase A, PKC, protein kinase C, PLA2, phospholipase A2, PLC, phospholipase C, PLD, phospholipase D, TRPC3/6, transient receptor potential canonical cation channel subfamily C members 3 and 6.</p> <p> </p> <p>References:</p> <p>Khoo, S. Y.-S., & Brown, R. M. (2014). Orexin/Hypocretin Based Pharmacotherapies for the Treatment of Addiction: DORA or SORA? CNS Drugs, Advance Online Publication. doi: 10.1007/s40263-014-0179-x</p> <p>Kukkonen, J. P. (2014). Lipid signaling cascades of orexin/hypocretin receptors. Biochimie, 96, 158-165. doi: 10.1016/j.biochi.2013.06.015</p> <p>Kukkonen, J. P., & Leonard, C. S. (2014). Orexin/hypocretin receptor signalling cascades. British Journal of Pharmacology, 171(2), 314-331. doi: 10.1111/bph.12324</p

Multifunctional Med State Notation Programs for Operant Behaviour

<p>Operant Behaviour Programs for Med Associates chambers. These programs provide multifunctional procedures to run entire experimental protocols. They are designed to interface with Med PC macros for session selection and parameter adjustment.</p