Individual variability in ethanol-induce place preference: relationship with extinction, reinstatement and behavioral sensitization

• Grant number: 11/15258-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: March 01, 2012
• End date: February 28, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Pharmacology - Neuropsychopharmacology
• Principal Investigator: Maria Lucia Oliveira de Souza Formigoni
• Grantee: João Victor Nicodemos Pildervasser
• Host Institution: Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

According to the Centro Brasileiro de Informações Sobre Drogas (CEBRID) 12,3% of Brazilian population in 2005 (corresponding to 2,255,772 millions of Brazilians) filled criteria suggesting alcohol dependence. World Health Organization (WHO) considers alcohol one of the main psychoactive drugs associated with death and increase of DALYs (disability-adjusted life years) in the world population. Repeated exposition to alcohol may induce behavioral sensitization to its stimulant effect - a neuroadaptation associated with high vulnerability to alcohol dependence development. An important characteristic of dependence is the increased rate of relapse, understood as the resumption of drug taking after an abstinence period. Relapse occurs when the dependent individual is exposed to an environmental stimulus which had been previously associated with the drug's reinforcing properties. So, the study of associative memories between the drug and the environment established during drug consumption, and how to prevent them, represents a field of intense research. However not all individual exposed to drugs of abuse develop dependence. A similar phenomenon is observed in mice exposed to ethanol in the behavioral sensitization model. Nevertheless, there are few studies focusing on this individual variability in a behavioral model to study the development of the associative reinforcing memories and relapse, such as the conditioned place preference (CPP). Besides, taking into account that memory manipulations procedures have been used to prevent relapse it is necessary to study the implications of these variability on the effectiveness of such treatments. In light of this, the present study seeks to evaluate the influence of the individual variability in the ethanol-induced place preference and its influence in other behavioral measures associated with relapse. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

PILDERVASSER, JOAO V. N.; ABRAHAO, KARINA P.; SOUZA-FORMIGONI, MARIA L. O.. Distinct behavioral phenotypes in ethanol-induced place preference are associated with different extinction and reinstatement but not behavioral sensitization responses. FRONTIERS IN BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE, v. 8, AUG 8 2014. (11/15258-8)