Behavioral economic analysis of normalized demand functions is proving to be a useful way to quantify and compare drugs as reinforcers. Demand and response output functions generate two numbers, Pmax and Omax, both of which incorporate scheduled dose and response requirement variables, and likely reflect important aspects of the reinforcing effects of the drug. Because the reinforcing effects of drugs are probably related to their abuse liability in humans, these metrics may allow us to evaluate this aspect of the relative abuse liability of drugs more completely than we can do with most other procedures. The current proposal has as one of its aims the further use and development of the behavioral economic analysis of drugs as reinforcers in rhesus monkey models of i.v. drug-reinforced responding. In particular, the analyses will evaluate the relative reinforcing effects of a number of drugs of abuse using own-price elasticity of demand, will determine how the reinforcing effects of some drugs are modified when these drugs are combined with a second drug of abuse, and will measure demand functions when the animals can choose between two drug options using cross-price elasticity of demand. These latter two studies will provide information about types of polydrug use that are likely to occur commonly in human drug abusers, yet about which we have little data and few ways to study. The results should provide information about some of the behavioral and pharmacological mechanisms that lead people to take drugs simultaneously, or that direct their choice when more than one drug is available. We anticipate that these studies will help to identify and quantify important aspects of drug-seeking and drug-taking behavior and will put us in a better position to understand how these aspects control this behavior and what they might signify for intervention and treatment.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01DA015449-04
Application #
7048533
Study Section
Biobehavioral and Behavioral Processes 3 (BBBP)
Program Officer
Wetherington, Cora Lee
Project Start
2003-04-10
Project End
2007-03-31
Budget Start
2006-04-01
Budget End
2007-03-31
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
2006
Total Cost
$441,560
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Michigan Ann Arbor
Department
Pharmacology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
073133571
City
Ann Arbor
State
MI
Country
United States
Zip Code
48109
Koffarnus, Mikhail N; Woods, James H (2013) Individual differences in discount rate are associated with demand for self-administered cocaine, but not sucrose. Addict Biol 18:8-18
Koffarnus, Mikhail N; Collins, Gregory T; Rice, Kenner C et al. (2012) Self-administration of agonists selective for dopamine D2, D3, and D4 receptors by rhesus monkeys. Behav Pharmacol 23:331-8
Koffarnus, Mikhail N; Hall, Amy; Winger, Gail (2012) Individual differences in rhesus monkeys' demand for drugs of abuse. Addict Biol 17:887-96
Jimenez-Gomez, Corina; Winger, Gail; Dean, Reginald L et al. (2011) Naltrexone decreases D-amphetamine and ethanol self-administration in rhesus monkeys. Behav Pharmacol 22:87-90
Podlesnik, Christopher A; Ko, Mei-Chuan; Winger, Gail et al. (2011) The effects of nociceptin/orphanin FQ receptor agonist Ro 64-6198 and diazepam on antinociception and remifentanil self-administration in rhesus monkeys. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 213:53-60
Wade-Galuska, Tammy; Galuska, Chad M; Winger, Gail (2011) Effects of daily morphine administration and deprivation on choice and demand for remifentanil and cocaine in rhesus monkeys. J Exp Anal Behav 95:75-89
Koffarnus, Mikhail N; Newman, Amy H; Grundt, Peter et al. (2011) Effects of selective dopaminergic compounds on a delay-discounting task. Behav Pharmacol 22:300-11
Ko, Mei-Chuan; Woods, James H; Fantegrossi, William E et al. (2009) Behavioral effects of a synthetic agonist selective for nociceptin/orphanin FQ peptide receptors in monkeys. Neuropsychopharmacology 34:2088-96
Koffarnus, Mikhail N; Woods, James H (2008) Quantification of drug choice with the generalized matching law in rhesus monkeys. J Exp Anal Behav 89:209-24
Hursh, Steven R; Silberberg, Alan (2008) Economic demand and essential value. Psychol Rev 115:186-98

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