Authors:

Gabriela Ospina

Date Created:

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About Paper:

Contingency management, a strategy for treating substance use disorder, involves offering non-drug incentives in exchange for drug abstinence, but when these incentives are removed, drug-seeking behavior often resumes. This phenomenon is observed in animal models as well. In this study, rats were trained to self-administer drugs and then given the choice between drugs and non-drug rewards. While most rats abstained from drugs, a subset continued to choose cocaine during voluntary abstinence. Interestingly, these rats exhibited different brain activity patterns, with lower c-Fos expression in the prefrontal cortex after voluntary abstinence compared to abstinence without alternative rewards. The study aimed to explore if female rats exhibit similar responses and c-Fos expression patterns in the prefrontal cortex during voluntary abstinence. It also hypothesized that rats preferring cocaine over non-drug rewards would show higher c-Fos expression. Male and female rats underwent a period of voluntary abstinence where they could choose between cocaine and sucrose rewards. Initially, both sexes preferred cocaine, but their preference shifted to sucrose around day 6. During the last five days of voluntary abstinence, a portion of both males and females continued to choose cocaine. No sex differences were observed in cocaine-seeking behavior during the relapse test. The study's ongoing analyses include examining prefrontal cortex c-Fos expression through immunohistochemistry. Overall, the findings suggest that sex does not significantly impact cocaine-seeking behavior during or after voluntary abstinence procedures. This research contributes to understanding the prefrontal cortex's role in cocaine relapse after contingency management.

Source:

University of Florida / Gabriela Ospina, Cassidy Jones-Goucher, Lori / 2023

Topics:

No topics listed

Co-authors:

Gabriela Ospina