Authors: Jennifer M Mitchell Marisa T Liang Howard L Fields
Publish Date: 2005/07/02
Volume: 182, Issue: 3, Pages: 384-392
Abstract
Kappa opioid receptor KOR agonists interfere with the reinforcing effects of drugs of abuse KOR agonists decrease heroin cocaine and ethanol selfadministration and block heroin and cocaine conditioned place preference CPP in rats However KOR agonists also produce emesis and dysphoria making it difficult to determine if their effects on selfadministration are due to an action on reward mechanisms or are secondary to the drugs direct aversive effects Assuming that endogenous KOR ligands modulate circuits involved in drug and alcohol reward selective KOR antagonists can be used to clarify these issues If KOR antagonists increase drug selfadministration then it is likely that endogenous KOR agonists directly modulate drug intakeA single injection of norBNI induces a longlasting increase in ethanol consumption but does not induce a CPP A high/low split revealed that this effect was primarily due to an increase in drinking in norBNItreated high drinkers which drank significantly more than salinetreated high drinkers and also drank significantly more when compared to their own pretreatment baselineThis work was supported by the Wheeler Center for the Neurobiology of Addiction and the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center The experiments contained herein comply with the current laws of the United States and were conducted in accordance with the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals NIH
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