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Individual Vulnerability to Stress Is Associated With Increased Demand for Intravenous Heroin Self-administration in
Nathaniel P Stafford1, Theodore N Kazan1, Colleen M Donovan1
1Department of Psychology, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, United States.
Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience
|July 12, 2019
Summary
Individual stress reactivity, measured biologically and behaviorally, predicts heroin demand. These markers can forecast vulnerability to opioid use disorder following stress exposure.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Behavioral Science
- Addiction Research
Background:
- Opioid use disorder (OUD) is a major public health crisis.
- Traumatic stress is a significant risk factor for initiating and relapsing opioid use.
- Understanding individual differences in stress reactivity is crucial for predicting OUD vulnerability.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how individual differences in stress reactivity predict heroin self-administration.
- To explore the relationship between biological and behavioral stress markers and subsequent heroin demand.
- To examine stress-induced relapse to heroin seeking.
Main Methods:
- Male rats were exposed to intermittent swim stress (ISS).
- Biological (corticosterone) and behavioral (open field, social exploration, forced swim tests) measures were assessed.
- Heroin self-administration demand was measured using a behavioral economics approach.
- Relapse was tested using cue-induced and yohimbine-induced reinstatement.
Main Results:
- Pre- and post-stress biological and behavioral markers predicted individual heroin demand.
- Previously associated cues reinstated heroin-seeking behavior during extinction.
- Stress re-exposure and yohimbine also triggered heroin seeking.
Conclusions:
- Individual biological and behavioral responses to stress can predict subsequent heroin demand.
- This finding offers insights into the neurobiological mechanisms underlying stress and OUD comorbidity.
- Identifying vulnerable individuals may inform targeted prevention and treatment strategies.
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