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Interaction between behavioral despair and addictive behaviors in rats.
Meng Tian1, Rong-Rong Mao, Li-Ping Wang
1Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms, Kunming Institute of Zoology, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650223, PR China.
Physiology & Behavior
|October 13, 2010
Summary
Behavioral despair, modeled by the forced swim test (FST), selectively enhances morphine addiction (CPP) in rats. Antidepressants block this effect, suggesting despair increases vulnerability to opiate abuse.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Behavioral Pharmacology
- Psychiatry
Background:
- Depression is highly prevalent in drug abusers, but the interaction between depression and drug abuse is not fully understood.
- Behavioral despair and addictive behaviors are complex phenomena that require further investigation into their interrelationship.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the interaction between behavioral despair and addictive behaviors using animal models.
- To determine if behavioral despair influences the development of morphine addiction and if morphine affects behavioral despair.
Main Methods:
- Utilized Porsolt's forced swim test (FST) to model behavioral despair.
- Employed morphine conditioned place preference (CPP) and repeated morphine exposure to model addictive behaviors.
- Administered the antidepressant imipramine to assess its effect on FST-potentiated morphine CPP.
Main Results:
- A standard FST (15min) induced behavioral despair that selectively potentiated morphine CPP, but not food CPP.
- Imipramine treatment blocked the behavioral despair and prevented the potentiation of morphine CPP.
- Repeated morphine exposure differentially affected immobility time in the FST, with 20-day exposure exacerbating behavioral despair.
Conclusions:
- Behavioral despair may increase vulnerability to opiate abuse.
- Opiate abuse, in turn, may exacerbate behavioral despair, suggesting a cyclical relationship.
