There is an urgent need for pharmacological agents that can prevent cue-induced relapse in abstinent cocaine users. In several rat models, cocaine seeking requires glutamate-mediated excitation of medium spiny neurons (MSN) of the nucleus accumbens (NAc). In rats that are drug-nave or have had limited cocaine exposure, this excitation is mediated primarily by Ca2+-impermeable AMPA receptors (CI-AMPARs). After extended access cocaine self-administration (SA) and withdrawal, cue-induced craving intensifies (incubates). We have shown that the expression of incubated cue-induced craving is mediated by Ca2+-permeable AMPARs (CP-AMPARs), which have higher conductance than CI-AMPARs and therefore enable stronger excitation of MSN. The objective of this proposal is to determine if group I metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs), which are expressed postsynaptically in MSN, can be targeted to remove CP-AMPARs from NAc synapses of incubated rats. The central hypothesis is that group I mGluRs normally exert an inhibitory influence on CP-AMPAR levels in NAc synapses, and that decreased group I mGluR signaling during withdrawal permits CP-AMPAR accumulation, whereas stimulating group I mGluRs will remove CP-AMPARs from the NAc of incubated rats and thus reduce craving. This hypothesis, formulated based on preliminary data showing that group I mGluR stimulation removes CP-AMPARs from NAc synapses in slices and cultures, will be tested by pursuing 3 Aims: 1) Determine the effect of group I mGluR activation and blockade on CP-AMPAR levels in NAc MSN in primary culture. Cultured MSN express CP-AMPARs, so this model system can be used to study acute and tonic regulation of CP-AMPAR trafficking by group I mGluRs. 2) Determine the effect of acute group I mGluR activation on AMPAR transmission in the NAc and the expression of cue-induced cocaine seeking. Slice recordings and behavioral studies in incubated rats will determine if acute group I mGluR stimulation removes CP-AMPARs from NAc synapses and reduces craving. 3) Measure group I mGluR surface expression and Homer levels in the NAc after cocaine withdrawal and determine if increasing group I mGluR signaling during withdrawal prevents CP-AMPAR accumulation and incubation. Homers are scaffolding proteins that can mediate group 1 mGluR signaling. Biochemical and behavioral experiments will test the hypothesis that group I mGluR surface expression, levels of long Homer isoforms, and/or mGluR-Homer interactions decrease in the NAc after extended access cocaine SA, permitting accumulation of CP-AMPARs, and that restoring group I mGluR signaling during withdrawal will prevent CP-AMPAR accumulation and incubation of cocaine craving. Our research plan is innovative because it challenges dogma by exploring the therapeutic utility, for addiction, of activating rather than blocking group I mGluRs and because it explores a novel form of synaptic plasticity in the NAc. The significance of our studies is that we expect them to identify a target that can be attacked with existing drugs (group I mGluR positive allosteric modulators) to reduce the risk of relapse during abstinence.

Public Health Relevance

In abstinent cocaine users, environmental cues previously associated with drug use are powerful triggers for relapse. The proposed research is relevant to NIHs mission of reducing the burden of illness because it explores a novel cellular mechanism to reverse the cocaine-induced neuronal plasticity that underlies enhanced cue-induced cocaine craving during withdrawal. Because this mechanism can be targeted using a class of drugs currently under development for other disorders, our results may rapidly translate into a novel strategy for preventing relapse to cocaine use.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01DA009621-18
Application #
8607172
Study Section
Neurobiology of Motivated Behavior Study Section (NMB)
Program Officer
Pilotte, Nancy S
Project Start
1996-09-01
Project End
2016-01-31
Budget Start
2014-02-01
Budget End
2015-01-31
Support Year
18
Fiscal Year
2014
Total Cost
$319,550
Indirect Cost
$112,050
Name
Rosalind Franklin University
Department
Neurosciences
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
069501252
City
North Chicago
State
IL
Country
United States
Zip Code
60064
Scheyer, Andrew F; Christian, Daniel T; Wolf, Marina E et al. (2018) Emergence of Endocytosis-Dependent mGlu1 LTD at Nucleus Accumbens Synapses After Withdrawal From Cocaine Self-Administration. Front Synaptic Neurosci 10:36
Dong, Yan; Taylor, Jane R; Wolf, Marina E et al. (2017) Circuit and Synaptic Plasticity Mechanisms of Drug Relapse. J Neurosci 37:10867-10876
Purgianto, Anthony; Weinfeld, Michael E; Wolf, Marina E (2017) Prolonged withdrawal from cocaine self-administration affects prefrontal cortex- and basolateral amygdala-nucleus accumbens core circuits but not accumbens GABAergic local interneurons. Addict Biol 22:1682-1694
Werner, Craig T; Murray, Conor H; Reimers, Jeremy M et al. (2017) Trafficking of calcium-permeable and calcium-impermeable AMPA receptors in nucleus accumbens medium spiny neurons co-cultured with prefrontal cortex neurons. Neuropharmacology 116:224-232
Christian, Daniel T; Wang, Xiaoting; Chen, Eugenia L et al. (2017) Dynamic Alterations of Rat Nucleus Accumbens Dendritic Spines over 2 Months of Abstinence from Extended-Access Cocaine Self-Administration. Neuropsychopharmacology 42:748-756
Wolf, Marina E (2016) Synaptic mechanisms underlying persistent cocaine craving. Nat Rev Neurosci 17:351-65
Scheyer, Andrew F; Loweth, Jessica A; Christian, Daniel T et al. (2016) AMPA Receptor Plasticity in Accumbens Core Contributes to Incubation of Methamphetamine Craving. Biol Psychiatry 80:661-670
Purgianto, Anthony; Loweth, Jessica A; Miao, Julia J et al. (2016) Surface expression of GABAA receptors in the rat nucleus accumbens is increased in early but not late withdrawal from extended-access cocaine self-administration. Brain Res 1642:336-343
Li, Xuan; Wolf, Marina E (2015) Multiple faces of BDNF in cocaine addiction. Behav Brain Res 279:240-54
Werner, Craig T; Milovanovic, Mike; Christian, Daniel T et al. (2015) Response of the Ubiquitin-Proteasome System to Memory Retrieval After Extended-Access Cocaine or Saline Self-Administration. Neuropsychopharmacology 40:3006-14

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