Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Reinstatement of nicotine conditioned place preference in a transgenerational model of drug abuse vulnerability in psychosis: Impact of BDNF on the saliency of drug associations

  • Original Investigation
  • Published:
Psychopharmacology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Rationale

Psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia are often accompanied by high rates of cigarette smoking, reduced quit success, and high relapse rates, negatively affecting patient outcomes. However, the mechanisms underlying altered relapse-like behaviors in psychosis are poorly understood.

Objectives

The present study analyzed changes in extinction and reinstatement of nicotine conditioned place preference (CPP) and resulting changes in brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in a novel heritable rodent model of psychosis, demonstrating increased dopamine D2 receptor sensitivity, to explore mechanisms contributing to changes in relapse-like behaviors.

Methods

Male and female offspring of two neonatal quinpirole-treated (1 mg/kg quinpirole from postnatal day (P)1–21; QQ) and two neonatal saline-treated (SS) Sprague–Dawley rats (F1 generation) were tested on an extended CPP paradigm to analyze extinction and nicotine-primed reinstatement. Brain tissue was analyzed 60 min after the last nicotine injection for BDNF response in the ventral tegmental area (VTA), the infralimbic (IfL) and prelimbic (PrL) cortices.

Results

F1 generation QQ offspring demonstrated delayed extinction and more robust reinstatement compared to SS control animals. In addition, QQ animals demonstrated an enhanced BDNF response to nicotine in the VTA, IfL and Prl cortices compared to SS offspring.

Conclusions

This study is the first to demonstrate altered relapse-like behavior in a heritable rodent model with relevance to comorbid drug abuse and psychosis. This altered pattern of behavior is hypothesized to be related to elevated activity-dependent BDNF in brain areas associated with drug reinforcement during conditioning that persists through the extinction phase, rendering aberrantly salient drug associations resistant to extinction and enhancing relapse vulnerability.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
EUR 32.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or Ebook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

The data that supports the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

References

Download references

Funding

This project was supported in part by NIH R15DA046926 grant awarded to RWB.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Russell W. Brown.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

All authors claim no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Publisher's note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Peeters, L.D., Wills, L.J., Cuozzo, A.M. et al. Reinstatement of nicotine conditioned place preference in a transgenerational model of drug abuse vulnerability in psychosis: Impact of BDNF on the saliency of drug associations. Psychopharmacology 240, 1453–1464 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-023-06379-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-023-06379-7

Keywords

Navigation