A common limiter circuit for opioid choice and relapse identified in a rodent addiction model

Jasper A. Heinsbroek, Giuseppe Giannotti, Mitchel R. Mandel, Megan Josey, Gary Aston-Jones, Morgan H. James and Jamie Peters ()
Additional contact information
Jasper A. Heinsbroek: University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Giuseppe Giannotti: University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Mitchel R. Mandel: University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Megan Josey: University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Gary Aston-Jones: Rutgers University and Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences
Morgan H. James: Rutgers University and Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences
Jamie Peters: University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Activity in numerous brain regions drives heroin seeking, but no circuits that limit heroin seeking have been identified. Furthermore, the neural circuits controlling opioid choice are unknown. In this study, we examined the role of the infralimbic cortex (IL) to nucleus accumbens shell (NAshell) pathway during heroin choice and relapse. This model yielded subpopulations of heroin versus food preferring rats during choice, and choice was unrelated to subsequent relapse rates to heroin versus food cues, suggesting that choice and relapse are distinct behavioral constructs. Supporting this, inactivation of the IL with muscimol produced differential effects on opioid choice versus relapse. A pathway-specific chemogenetic approach revealed, however, that the IL-NAshell pathway acts as a common limiter of opioid choice and relapse. Furthermore, dendritic spines in IL-NAshell neurons encode distinct aspects of heroin versus food reinforcement. Thus, opioid choice and relapse share a common addiction-limiting circuit in the IL-NAshell pathway.

Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-25080-x Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-021-25080-x

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-25080-x

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().