Maternal separation plus social isolation during adolescence reprogram brain dopamine and endocannabinoid systems and facilitate alcohol intake in rats.

Adverse early life experiences, i.e. abusive parenting, during postnatal development, induce long-lasting effects on the stress response systems and behavior.

Opposed cannabinoid 1 receptor (CB1R) expression in the prefrontal cortex vs. nucleus accumbens is associated with alcohol consumption in male rats.

Abusive alcohol consumption is a health problem, worldwide. There is extensive literature indicating that cannabinoid 1 receptor (CB1R) plays a crucial role in mediating alcohol's reward effects. Maternal care deprivation (MCD) is a reliable rodent model of early life stress that leads to high levels of anxiety and alterations in motivation, which may increase vulnerability to alcohol consumption.

CB1R mediates oleamide's reward while 5HT2cR mediates aversion in the nucleus accumbens shell of rats.

In this study, we have pursued to assess oleamide's potential role in reward and aversion mechanisms. To reach this goal we infused oleamide, either 1 μg into the nucleus accumbens shell (NAccS) and evaluated its effects on conditioned place preference (CCP) or 10 μg, to evaluate conditioned place aversion (CPA). Extinction and reinstatement were also evaluated in both cases.

Chloramphenicol decreases CB1 receptor expression in the nucleus accumbens and prefrontal cortex and prevents amphetamine-induced conditioned place preference in rats.

Drug dependence seems to involve a learning and memory process. Since learning and memory depend on protein synthesis, drug dependence may depend on protein synthesis, too. Drug-induced reward is a crucial effect for the development of drug-dependence.

From adolescent to elder rats: Motivation for palatable food and cannabinoids receptors.

To analyze motivation, food self-administration and decision-making were evaluated in adolescent, adult, and aged rats. Subjects were trained to press a lever (fixed ratio, FR1 and FR5) in an operant chamber, to obtain chocolate flavor pellets. They assessed the progressive ratio (PR), extinction, and reinstatement of the behavior.

Endocannabinoids and sleep.

Sleep is regulated by several brain structures, neurotransmitters and neuromodulators. Endocannabinoids (eCBs) are a group of lipids with modulatory activity in the brain and bind mainly to cannabinoid receptors CB1R and CB2R, thereby modulating several brain functions, (memory, mood, food intake, pain perception). Oleoylethanolamide and palmitoylethanolamide belong to the N-acylethanolamides (NAEs) family, another type of active endogenous lipids.

ENP11, a potential CB1R antagonist, induces anorexia in rats.

Over the past decade, pharmacological manipulation of cannabinoid 1 receptor (CB1R) has become an interesting approach for the management of food ingestion disorders, among other physiological functions. Searching for new substances with similar desirable effects, but fewer side-effects we have synthesized a SR141716A (a cannabinoid receptor inverse agonist also called Rimonabant) analog, 1-(2,4-Difluorophenyl)-4-methyl-N-(1-piperidinyl)-5-[4-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]-1H-pyrazole-3-carboxamide, ENP11, that so far, as we have previously shown, has induced changes in glucose availability, i.e.