Environmental cues associated with a drug reward can elicit strong drug cravings in humans and can reinstate reward-seeking behavior in animals. Understanding the mechanisms by which such cue-reward associations are formed and maintained are important in order to gain an understanding of the neurobiology of drug relapse and to provide fresh treatment strategies for curtailing such relapse behavior. The proposed research seeks to investigate the mechanisms underlying the formation and maintenance of cue-reward associations using the behavioral paradigm of cue-induced reinstatement, a commonly used rodent model of relapse, and will test whether the strength of cue-reward associations can be altered during the consolidation period and the period following memory reactivation through infusion of the protein synthesis inhibitor anisomycin (ANI). To localize the role of protein synthesis during initial consolidation and following memory reactivation, ANI will then be infused into the basolateral amygdala (BLA) during these time periods. Lastly, in order to determine if camp-dependent protein kinase (PKA) is necessary in the BLA during the initial consolidation and reactivation of the cue-reward association, Rp-cAMPs will be infused into the BLA during these time period. These studies will provide insight into the mechanisms by which the cue-reward associations relevant to addictive behavior are formed and maintained.
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| Blaiss, Cory A; Janak, Patricia H (2007) Post-training, but not post-reactivation, administration of amphetamine and anisomycin modulates Pavlovian conditioned approach. Neurobiol Learn Mem 87:644-58 |
| Blaiss, Cory A; Janak, Patricia H (2006) Post-training and post-reactivation administration of amphetamine enhances morphine conditioned place preference. Behav Brain Res 171:329-37 |
