Year: 2009
Type: dissertation
Abstract: In 2006, 9.6% of Americans ages 12 and over were either dependent on or were abusing alcohol or illicit drugs (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2008). Furthermore, the cost of alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug abuse to companies and hospitals is over $500 billion per year (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2008). A cost effective treatment that decreases drug reward would benefit medical patients taking potentially addictive drugs, recovering drug addicts, and companies and hospitals that expend money as a result of drug abuse. This study examined the effects of housing environment (both social grouping and cage enrichment) on ethanol and morphine addiction in mice. The results did not show that mice in a social and enriched environment would show the least preference for both morphine and ethanol. However, the extremely large effect sizes and past finding suggest that a larger subject population and the addition of a tactile stimulus to the experiment may show that housing environment does affect drug addiction; this could be a monumental contribution to the medical and corporate fields.
Author: Kamila Naszkowska
Institution: Regis University
Language: English
Subfield: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2500411086