Author:
Gutierrez Arnold,Harvey Eric L.,Creehan Kevin M.,Taffe Michael A.
Abstract
Abstract
Rationale
Adolescents represent a vulnerable group due to increased experimentation with illicit substances that is often associated with the adolescent period, and because adolescent drug use can result in long-term effects that differ from those caused by drug use initiated during adulthood.
Objectives
The purpose of the present study was to determine the effects of repeated heroin vapor inhalation during adolescence on measures of nociception, and anxiety-like behavior during adulthood in female and male Wistar rats.
Methods
Rats were exposed twice daily to 30 min of heroin vapor from post-natal day (PND) 36 to PND 45. At 12 weeks of age, baseline thermal nociception was assessed across a range of temperatures with a warm-water tail-withdrawal assay. Anxiety-like behavior was assessed in an elevated plus-maze (EPM) and activity was measured in an open-field arena. Starting at 23 weeks of age, baseline thermal nociception was re-assessed, nociception was determined after acute heroin or naloxone injection, and anxiety-like behavior was redetermined in the EPM.
Results
Adolescent heroin inhalation altered baseline thermal nociception in female rats at 12 weeks of age and in both female and male rats at ~ 23 weeks. Heroin-treated animals exhibited anxiety-like behavior when tested in the elevated plus-maze, showed blunted heroin-induced analgesia, but exhibited no effect on naloxone-induced hyperalgesia.
Conclusions
The present study demonstrates that heroin vapor inhalation during adolescence produces behavioral and physiological consequences in rats that persist well into adulthood.
Funder
National Institute on Drug Abuse
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Cited by
5 articles.
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