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Biomedical subjects

A Markou

Publications and source records attributed to A Markou.

52 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1993

Withdrawal following cocaine self-administration decreases regional cerebral metabolic rate in critical brain reward regions.

The quantitative [14C]-2-deoxyglucose autoradiographic method was utilized to assess regional cerebral metabolic rate for glucose (rCMRglc) in rat brain during withdrawal from cocaine self-administration. RCMRglc was determined in 62 regions from brains of naive rats which were placed into an empty operant chamber for 12 hr continuously, and rats trained to self-administer cocaine during 3 hr training sessions and subsequently placed into the operant chamber for 12 hr continuously with or without access to cocaine. Animals placed into the chamber without access to cocaine were examined 6 hr later, while animals allowed access to the 12 hr cocaine binge were examined either 6 or 72 hr post-cocaine. Metabolic activity was reduced during withdrawal in the nucleus accumbens, olfactory tubercle, islands of Calleja region, basolateral and central amygdaloid nuclei, medial septum, piriform and cingulate cortices, rostral caudatoputamen, entopeduncular nucleus and the adjacent lateral hypothalamus, somatosensory, auditory, and motor cortices compared to the naive state. These effects were usually more severe at 72 than at 6 hr after binge exposure, with intermediate values observed in cocaine trained animals without binge exposure. The response was negatively correlated with the amount of cocaine consumed during binge exposure in the striatum, olfactory tubercle, piriform, cingulate, somatosensory, and motor cortices. Thus, the amount of cocaine consumed can affect the extent of metabolic depression after sustained drug exposure. The pattern of regional effects suggests that mesolimbic and rostral extrapyramidal dopamine terminal regions and certain of their efferent pathways are preferentially affected during cocaine withdrawal. The reduction of basal metabolic rate observed in these brain regions during cocaine withdrawal may become more severe with time despite the apparent recovery of certain behavioral-motivational responses.

Animals↗
PubMed1993

Animal models of drug craving.

Drug craving, the desire to experience the effect(s) of a previously experienced psychoactive substance, has been hypothesized to contribute significantly to continued drug use and relapse after a period of abstinence in humans. In more theoretical terms, drug craving can be conceptualized within the framework of incentive motivational theories of behavior and be defined as the incentive motivation to self-administer a psychoactive substance. The incentive-motivational value of drugs is hypothesized to be determined by a continuous interaction between the hedonic rewarding properties of drugs (incentive) and the motivational state of the organism (organismic state). In drug-dependent individuals, the incentive-motivational value of drugs (i.e., drug craving) is greater compared to non-drug-dependent individuals due to the motivational state (i.e., withdrawal) developed with repeated drug administration. In this conceptual framework, animal models of drug craving would reflect two aspects of the incentive motivation to self-administer a psychoactive substance. One aspect would be the unconditioned incentive (reinforcing) value of the drug itself. The other aspect would be relatively independent of the direct (unconditioned) incentive value of the drug itself and could be reflected in the ability of previously neutral stimuli to acquire conditioned incentive properties that could elicit drug-seeking and drug-taking behavior. Animal models of drug craving that permit the investigation of the behavioral and neurobiological components of these two aspects of drug craving are reviewed and evaluated. The models reviewed are the progressive ratio, choice, extinction, conditioned reinforcement and second-order schedule paradigms. These animal models are evaluated according to two criteria that are established herein as necessary and sufficient criteria for the evaluation of animal models of human psychopathology: reliability and predictive validity. The development of animal models of drug craving will have heuristic value and allow a systematic investigation of the neurobiological mechanisms of craving.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Basal extracellular dopamine levels in the nucleus accumbens are decreased during cocaine withdrawal after unlimited-access self-administration.

The effects of withdrawal from cocaine on extracellular dopamine (DA) levels in the nucleus accumbens (NAC) were examined by intracranial microdialysis in awake rats after periods (9.5-21.75 h) of unlimited-access, intravenous cocaine self-administration. Cocaine withdrawal was associated with significant reductions in basal DA overflow that persisted up to 12 h. Maximal inhibition of DA release (mean +/- S.E.M. 66.15 +/- 3.30 percent of basal levels) was observed between 4-6 h after cessation of cocaine intake and was positively correlated (r = 0.88) with the duration of the preceding self-administration episode. The results suggest that suppression of basal DA release in the NAC is an adaptive consequence of sustained cocaine exposure and may in part underlie the post-cocaine anhedonia observed in behavioral models of cocaine withdrawal.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Desmethylimipramine attenuates cocaine withdrawal in rats.

Depression and anhedonia are two major symptoms of cocaine withdrawal in humans. Hence, pharmacological treatments effective in depression might also alleviate the symptoms of cocaine withdrawal. In the present study, the effects of acute and repeated administration of a tricyclic antidepressant, desmethylimipramine (DMI), were investigated in naive and cocaine-withdrawing rats. An animal model of cocaine withdrawal was used that employs the elevation in intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS) thresholds following the termination of prolonged periods of cocaine self-administration as a measure of an animal's "anhedonic" state. The influence of chronic DMI treatment on beta-adrenergic receptor binding and affinity was also correlated with the behavioral signs of cocaine withdrawal. Neither acute nor repeated DMI treatment influenced reward functions in rats that were not undergoing cocaine withdrawal. However, repeated DMI treatment significantly down-regulated beta-adrenergic receptors, and shortened the duration of the post-cocaine "anhedonia" (elevation in thresholds). Furthermore, the magnitude of the beta-adrenergic receptor down-regulation correlated significantly with the degree of effectiveness of DMI treatment in reversing the post-cocaine "anhedonia". However, chronic DMI treatment did reduce the amount of cocaine self-administered by the animals. The reversal of the post-cocaine anhedonia in this animal model of cocaine withdrawal by chronic DMI treatment demonstrates the potential usefulness of the model in identifying new pharmacotherapies for cocaine withdrawal. In addition, the results indicate that tricyclic antidepressants may be able to ameliorate some of the symptoms of cocaine withdrawal.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed1992

Construct validity of a self-stimulation threshold paradigm: effects of reward and performance manipulations.

A discrete-trial current-threshold intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS) paradigm has been used extensively to examine the effects of drugs on reward thresholds. However, there is little work to date validating that this specific procedure measures reward. The purpose of the present study was to establish the construct validity of this procedure by testing the procedure's ability to measure reward effects and to discriminate these reward effects from performance effects. The discrete-trial ICSS procedure provides four measures: current thresholds, response latency, extra responses and time-out responses. The effects of a performance manipulation (variations in the force required to operate the manipulandum) and of a reward manipulation (variations in the train duration of the electrical stimulation) were evaluated on the four measures. Reward effects were reflected primarily in changes in thresholds, with no effect on any of the other three measures. Conversely, performance effects were reflected primarily in changes in response latency, extra responses and time-out responses, with only a small effect on thresholds. Finally, the paradigm's potential as a useful tool in the elucidation of the neurobiological basis of reward was demonstrated by investigating the effects of two pharmacological agents, cocaine and curare, on the four measures derived from the discrete-trial current-threshold ICSS procedure. The results suggest that the discrete-trial current-threshold procedure can readily discriminate reward from performance treatments.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Bromocriptine reverses the elevation in intracranial self-stimulation thresholds observed in a rat model of cocaine withdrawal.

Cocaine use frequently occurs in episodic prolonged binges. Following such a cocaine binge, the user suffers from severe depression mixed with irritability, anxiety, anergia and anhedonia. These symptoms constitute the cocaine withdrawal syndrome. Since cocaine's rewarding effects are mediated by enhanced dopaminergic neurotransmission in the mesocorticolimbic system, it is possible that a long-acting dopamine agonist might block the withdrawal effects associated with the termination of a prolonged bout of cocaine self-administration. An animal model of post-cocaine anhedonia was developed using the elevation in intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS) thresholds following the termination of prolonged periods of cocaine self-administration as a measure of an animal's "anhedonic" state. In the present study, an attempt was made to reverse the postcocaine elevation in ICSS thresholds with acute administration of a dopaminergic agonist, bromocriptine. Rats were allowed to self-administer cocaine for 24 hours continuously. Four hours after the termination of the self-administration session, animals were injected with either vehicle or bromocriptine (1, 2, or 4 mg/kg, IP). Two hours later (6 hours post cocaine), the animals' self-stimulation thresholds were assessed. Confirming previous work, treatment with the vehicle following a cocaine "binge" resulted in elevated ICSS thresholds compared to predrug baseline levels or to control rats' thresholds. Bromocriptine, at doses that had no effect on ICSS thresholds in control rats, reversed the postcocaine anhedonia in a dose-related manner. These results indicate that bromocriptine-like drugs (pharmacological agents that enhance dopaminergic neurotransmission) may be able to ameliorate some of the effects of cocaine withdrawal on mood and motivational state. In addition, the results of the present study indicate that the proposed animal model of cocaine withdrawal could be useful in the discovery and development of new pharmacotherapies for cocaine withdrawal.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed1991

Postcocaine anhedonia. An animal model of cocaine withdrawal.

Cocaine use frequently occurs in episodic, prolonged binges. Following such a cocaine binge, the user suffers from severe depressive symptoms mixed with irritability and anxiety ("crash"). The present study was an attempt to develop an animal model of postcocaine depression or anhedonia and to study the time course of this cocaine withdrawal symptom. Rats were allowed to self-administer cocaine intravenously for prolonged periods of time and their brain reward thresholds were then assessed using intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS) thresholds. ICSS thresholds were used operationally as a measure of the animals' "hedonic-anhedonic" state. It was found that during cocaine withdrawal ICSS thresholds were elevated compared to predrug baseline levels and to control animals' thresholds, reflecting an "anhedonic" state. The magnitude and duration of the "anhedonic" state was proportional to the amount of cocaine consumed during the binge. A measure of response latency provided evidence that this postcocaine elevation of thresholds is due to a desensitization of the reward pathways mediating ICSS reward and not to any nonspecific (e.g., performance) effects of the cocaine exposure.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed1987

The effect of operant and electrode placement on self-stimulation train duration response functions.

Multiple operants have been used to assess the effects of drugs on self-stimulation. It has typically been assumed that changing the operant used to obtain brain stimulation represents a simple performance manipulation. However, the validity of this assumption has been challenged by several research findings. The present study sought to clarify the role of response topography and slight differences in electrode placement on operant-induced shifts in self-stimulation thresholds and response rates. Thresholds and rates were determined for three operants (leverpressing, nosepoking and omnidirectional leverpressing) using two bilaterally placed electrodes. In addition, the response topographies used to perform each operant were evaluated. It was found that the relationship between the thresholds and rates produced by the operants was more dependent on the electrode placement than operant or subject-specific factors. The results of this experiment suggest that the characteristics of the stimulation site determine the relationship among different operants. This finding may be due to differences in the reward substrate or stimulation-induced behaviors activated at various brain loci.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

A systematic evaluation of the properties of self-stimulation train-duration response functions.

A series of experiments examined the characteristics of train-duration response functions and two statistics derived from these functions: train-duration thresholds and maximum rates. Train-duration response functions exhibited a steplike appearance. The slope of the train-duration curves was not influenced by either reward or performance manipulations, which suggests that the animals were not matching their response rates to changes in these factors along the steep part of the function. Substantial shifts in train-duration thresholds were observed following changes in the reward value of the brain stimulation, whereas maximum rates were affected by changes in factors such as response effort. The results of Experiments 1 through 6 demonstrate several similarities and differences between train-duration response functions and the reward summation functions generated with manipulations of stimulation frequency. The experiments described in this report provide convergent evidence for the validity of both of these approaches.

Animals↗