Effect of Acute Alcohol Consumption in a Novel Rodent Model of Decision Making.

Background: Alcohol use, especially at high consumption levels, can lead to irrational decision-making. In humans, this can lead to harmful outcomes often seen in the context of driving under the influence and or aggressive behavior. To date, the field is lacking comprehensive animal models to examine the impact of alcohol use on decision making in rodents, particularly to examine sex differences in choice behavior.

A review of brain structural and functional changes using MRI technology in patients who received bariatric surgery.

According to the World Health Organization, obesity is one of the most significant health issues currently because it increases risk for type 2 diabetes and cancer, heart disease, bone health, reproduction, and quality of living and it impacts approximately 500 million adults worldwide. This review analyzed the existing literature focusing on the effects of Metabolic and bariatric surgeries (MBS), including Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy on changes in brain function and anatomy using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology. A PubMed search using the key words bariatric surgery and MRI conducted in December 2023 resulted in 544 articles.

Model of a striatal circuit exploring biological mechanisms underlying decision-making during normal and disordered states.

Unlabelled: Decision-making requires continuous adaptation to internal and external contexts. Changes in decision-making are reliable transdiagnostic symptoms of neuropsychiatric disorders. We created a computational model demonstrating how the striosome compartment of the striatum constructs a mathematical space for decision-making computations depending on context, and how the matrix compartment defines action value depending on the space.

The influence of ovarian hormones on the putative mechanisms that promote female nicotine use.

Nicotine use is driven by pleasurable effects, but following chronic exposure, nicotine use becomes largely driven by the desire need to avoid withdrawal symptoms. Current cessation strategies focusing on alleviating withdrawal, but current cessation interventions are less effective for women than men. Also, hormone fluctuations across the menstrual cycle appear to impact use patterns, withdrawal severity, and treatment efficacy.

RECORD, a high-throughput, customizable system that unveils behavioral strategies leveraged by rodents during foraging-like decision-making.

Translational studies benefit from experimental designs where laboratory organisms use human-relevant behaviors. One such behavior is decision-making, however studying complex decision-making in rodents is labor-intensive and typically restricted to two levels of cost/reward. We design a fully automated, inexpensive, high-throughput framework to study decision-making across multiple levels of rewards and costs: the REward-COst in Rodent Decision-making (RECORD) system.

Withdrawal from repeated nicotine vapor exposure increases somatic signs of physical dependence, anxiety-like behavior, and brain reward thresholds in adult male rats.

Nicotine vapor consumption via electronic nicotine delivery systems has increased over the last decade. While prior work has shed light on the health effects of nicotine vapor inhalation, its unique effects on the brain and behavior have not been thoroughly explored. In this study we assessed markers of withdrawal following 14 days of nicotine vapor exposure.

Sex and diet-dependent gene alterations in human and rat brains with a history of nicotine exposure.

Introduction: Chronic nicotine exposure induces changes in the expression of key regulatory genes associated with metabolic function and neuronal alterations in the brain. Many bioregulatory genes have been associated with exposure to nicotine, but the modulating effects of sex and diet on gene expression in nicotine-exposed brains have been largely unexplored. Both humans and rodents display motivation for nicotine use and the emergence of withdrawal symptoms during abstinence.

Early-life adversity increases anxiety-like behavior and modifies synaptic protein expression in a region-specific manner.

Early-life adversity (ELA) can induce persistent neurological changes and increase the risk for developing affective or substance use disorders. Disruptions to the reward circuitry of the brain and pathways serving motivation and emotion have been implicated in the link between ELA and altered adult behavior. The molecular mechanisms that mediate the long-term effects of ELA, however, are not fully understood.

Alcohol self-administration and nicotine withdrawal alter biomarkers of stress and inflammation and prefrontal cortex changes in Gβ subunits.

Although alcohol and nicotine are often used together, the biological consequences of these substances are not well understood. Identifying shared targets will inform cessation pharmacotherapies and provide a deeper understanding of how co-use of alcohol and nicotine impacts health, including biomarkers of stress and inflammation. We examined the effects of nicotine exposure and withdrawal on alcohol self-administration (SA), stress and inflammatory biomarkers, and a G-protein coupled receptor subunit (Gβ) in brain areas associated with drug use.

The emergence of insulin resistance following a chronic high-fat diet regimen coincides with an increase in the reinforcing effects of nicotine in a sex-dependent manner.

The present study assessed the sex-dependent effects of insulin resistance on the reinforcing effects of nicotine. Female and male rats received a chronic high-fat diet (HFD) or regular diet (RD) for 8 weeks. A subset of rats then received vehicle or a dose of streptozotocin (STZ; 25 mg/kg) that induces insulin resistance.

Exposure to Nicotine Vapor Produced by an Electronic Nicotine Delivery System Causes Short-Term Increases in Impulsive Choice in Adult Male Rats.

Introduction: Traditional cigarette use influences cost-benefit decision making by promoting impulsive choice. However, the impact of nicotine exposure via electronic nicotine delivery systems on impulsivity remains unclear. Hence, the present study examined the short- and long-term effects of nicotine vapor on impulsive choice.

Converging vulnerability factors for compulsive food and drug use.

Highly palatable foods and substance of abuse have intersecting neurobiological, metabolic and behavioral effects relevant for understanding vulnerability to conditions related to food (e.g., obesity, binge eating disorder) and drug (e.

Amino acid systems in the interpeduncular nucleus are altered in a sex-dependent manner during nicotine withdrawal.

Prior work in male rodents established that the medial habenula-interpeduncular nucleus (MHb-IPN) pathway modulates nicotine withdrawal. Specifically, withdrawal severity has been closely associated with inhibitory tone in the IPN via interneurons that release γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Inhibitory tone in the IPN is regulated by projections from the MHb that co-release glutamate and acetylcholine.

Female rats display greater nicotine withdrawal-induced cellular activation of a central portion of the interpeduncular nucleus versus males: A study of Fos immunoreactivity within provisionally assigned interpeduncular subnuclei.

Background: The interpeduncular nucleus (>1840) (IPN) has been shown to modulate the behavioral effects of nicotine withdrawal in male rodents. To date, the contribution of this brain structure to sex differences in withdrawal is largely unexplored.

Methods: This study compared neuronal activation, as reported by observable Fos expression in the IPN of nicotine-dependent female and male rats experiencing withdrawal.

Insulin restores the neurochemical effects of nicotine in the mesolimbic pathway of diabetic rats.

This study examined whether insulin modulates the neurochemical effects of nicotine in the mesolimbic pathway of diabetic rats. The rats received vehicle or streptozotocin (STZ) to induce hypoinsulinemia. A subset of STZ-treated rats was implanted with insulin pellets that rapidly normalized glucose levels.

Estradiol promotes and progesterone reduces anxiety-like behavior produced by nicotine withdrawal in female rats.

This study assessed sex differences and the role of ovarian hormones in nicotine withdrawal. Study 1 compared physical signs, anxiety-like behavior, and corticosterone levels in male, intact female, and ovariectomized (OVX) female rats during nicotine withdrawal. Estradiol (E2) and progesterone levels were also assessed in intact females that were tested during different phases of the 4-day estrous cycle.

Examination of nicotine and saccharin reward in the Goto-Kakizaki diabetic rat model.

Morbidity and mortality attributed to type 2 diabetes have exponentially increased in the US. At exceptionally high risk is a subpopulation of persons with type 2 diabetes who smoke, which are shown to have decreased success rates of smoking cessation than euglycemic smokers. Preclinical research in our laboratory has shown that the rewarding effects of nicotine are enhanced in the streptozotocin and high-fat diet rodent model of diabetes.

Overexpression of corticotropin-releasing factor in the nucleus accumbens enhances the reinforcing effects of nicotine in intact female versus male and ovariectomized female rats.

This study assessed the role of stress systems in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) in promoting sex differences in the reinforcing effects of nicotine. Intravenous self-administration (IVSA) of various doses of nicotine was compared following overexpression of corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) in the NAc of female and male rats. Ovariectomized (OVX) females were also included to assess the role of ovarian hormones in promoting nicotine reinforcement.

Relationship Between Nicotine Intake and Reward Function in Rats With Intermittent Short Versus Long Access to Nicotine.

Introduction: Tobacco use improves mood states and smoking cessation leads to anhedonia, which contributes to relapse. Animal studies have shown that noncontingent nicotine administration enhances brain reward function and leads to dependence. However, little is known about the effects of nicotine self-administration on the state of the reward system.

Insulin modulates the strong reinforcing effects of nicotine and changes in insulin biomarkers in a rodent model of diabetes.

This study examined whether the strong reinforcing effects of nicotine and changes in insulin biomarkers observed in diabetic rats are modulated via insulin. A model of diabetes was employed involving administration of streptozotocin (STZ), which produces hypoinsulinemia in rats. The present study included vehicle- or STZ-treated rats that received sham surgery or insulin pellets.

Insulin dependent and independent normalization of blood glucose levels reduces the enhanced rewarding effects of nicotine in a rodent model of diabetes.

The rewarding effects of nicotine have been previously shown to be enhanced in rodent models of diabetes. It is presently unclear whether the enhanced nicotine reward observed in the diabetes models are mediated via an insulin or glucose mechanism. This study examined whether the enhanced rewarding effects of nicotine observed in streptozotocin (STZ)-treated rats are insulin-mediated.