Individual differences in cocaine's locomotor activating effects predicts reward-directed behavior
Year: 2011
Type: article
Abstract: Humans exhibit marked individual differences in susceptibility to develop drug dependence. Addiction-like behaviors have been modeled in rodents as well with similar individual variability in the development of addiction-like behaviors. One potential mechanism that could differentiate addiction-vulnerable from addiction-resistant individuals is sensitivity to reward-paired cues. Pavlovian-instrumental transfer (PIT) is a paradigm that assesses the extent to which reward cues can initiate previously unpaired instrumental responding for a common reward. To examine the potential that sensitivity to reward-paired cues is a mechanism differentiating individuals with a propensity to develop addiction-like behaviors, we used a rodent model known to differ in initial responsiveness to cocaine as well as in behaviors implicated in ‘addiction-vulnerability’. We hypothesize that rodents displaying the ‘addiction-vulnerable’ phenotype will initiate instrumental responding to a greater degree when presented with cues associated with reward than their counterparts.
Author: Emily R. Venheim
Language: English
Subfield: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1142845697