The role of central amygdala corticotropin-releasing factor in predator odor stress-induced avoidance behavior and escalated alcohol drinking in rats.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is characterized by avoidance of trauma-associated stimuli and amygdala hyperreactivity, and is highly co-morbid with alcohol use disorder (AUD). Our lab uses a predator odor (bobcat urine) stress model that produces conditioned avoidance of an odor-paired context in a subset of rats, mirroring avoidance symptoms that manifest in some but not all humans exposed to trauma. We previously showed that after predator odor stress, Avoiders exhibit escalated operant alcohol self-administration (SA), higher aversion-resistant operant alcohol responding, hyperalgesia, and greater anxiety-like behavior compared to unstressed Controls.

Predator odor stress blunts alcohol conditioned aversion.

Alcohol use disorder is highly co-morbid with traumatic stress disorders in humans, and dually diagnosed individuals cite negative affective symptoms as a primary reason for drinking alcohol. Therefore, it is reasonable to hypothesize that traumatic stress history increases the rewarding properties and/or blunts the aversive properties of alcohol. We used a place conditioning procedure to test the rewarding/aversive properties of alcohol in adult male Wistar rats with or without a traumatic stress (i.

Corticotropin-Releasing Factor (CRF) Neurocircuitry and Neuropharmacology in Alcohol Drinking.

Alcohol use is pervasive in the United States. In the transition from nonhazardous drinking to hazardous drinking and alcohol use disorder, neuroadaptations occur within brain reward and brain stress systems. One brain signaling system that has received much attention in animal models of excessive alcohol drinking and alcohol dependence is corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF).

Lingual CD36 and nutritional status differentially regulate fat preference in obesity-prone and obesity-resistant rats.

Lingual fatty acid receptors (i.e. CD36) mediate the orosensory perception of fat/fatty acids and may contribute to the susceptibility to develop obesity.

Corticotropin-releasing factor in ventromedial prefrontal cortex mediates avoidance of a traumatic stress-paired context.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) affects 7.7 million Americans. One diagnostic criterion for PTSD is avoidance of stimuli that are related to the traumatic stress.

Traumatic Stress Promotes Hyperalgesia via Corticotropin-Releasing Factor-1 Receptor (CRFR1) Signaling in Central Amygdala.

Hyperalgesia is an exaggerated response to noxious stimuli produced by peripheral or central plasticity. Stress modifies nociception, and humans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) exhibit co-morbid chronic pain and amygdala dysregulation. Predator odor stress produces hyperalgesia in rodents.

The effects of high fat diet and estradiol on hypothalamic prepro-QRFP mRNA expression in female rats.

Estradiol (E2) is a potent regulator of feeding behavior, body weight and adiposity in females. The hypothalamic neuropeptide, QRFP, is an orexigenic peptide that increases the consumption of high fat diet (HFD) in intact female rats. Therefore, the goal of the current series of studies was to elucidate the effects of E2 on the expression of hypothalamic QRFP and its receptors, QRFP-r1 and QRFP-r2, in female rats fed a HFD.

The effect of caffeine and albuterol on body composition and metabolic rate.

Objective: Caffeine and ephedrine was an effective combination therapy for weight loss until ephedrine was removed from the market due to safety concerns. This study investigated the combination of caffeine and albuterol as a possibly safer alternative to ephedrine.

Methods: In a series of experiments using cultured adipocytes, rat models, and humans, the effects of caffeine and albuterol on lipolysis, metabolic rate, food intake, and body composition were evaluated.

Preference for linoleic acid in obesity-prone and obesity-resistant rats is attenuated by the reduction of CD36 on the tongue.

Differential sensing of dietary fat and fatty acids by the oral cavity is proposed to regulate the susceptibility to obesity. In the current experiments, animals that differ in their susceptibility to obesity were used to investigate the influence of the oral cavity on the preference for the polyunsaturated fatty acid, linoleic acid. In experiment 1, the preference for differing concentrations of linoleic acid was determined in obesity-prone Osborne-Mendel (OM) and obesity-resistant S5B/Pl (S5B) rats.