Gambling and substance use disorders are highly comorbid. Both clinical populations are impulsive and exhibit risky decision‐making. Drug‐associated cues have long been known to facilitate habitual drug‐seeking, and the salient audiovisual cues embedded within modern gambling products may likewise encourage problem gambling. The dopamine neurons of the ventral tegmental area (VTA) are exquisitely sensitive to drugs of abuse, uncertain rewards, and reward‐paired cues and may therefore be the common neural substrate mediating synergistic features of both disorders. To test this hypothesis, we first gained specific inhibitory control over VTA dopamine neurons by transducing a floxed inhibitory DREADD (AAV5‐hSyn‐DIO‐hM4D(Gi)‐mCherry) in rats expressing Cre recombinase in tyrosine hydroxylase neurons. We then trained rats in our cued rat gambling task (crGT), inhibiting dopamine neurons throughout task acquisition and performance, before allowing them to self‐administer cocaine in the same diurnal period as crGT sessions. The trajectories of addiction differ in women and men, and the dopamine system may differ functionally across the sexes; therefore, we used male and female rats here. We found that inhibition of VTA dopamine neurons decreased cue‐induced risky choice and reduced motor impulsivity in males, but surprisingly, enhanced risky decision making in females. Inhibiting VTA dopamine neurons also prevented cocaine‐induced changes in decision making in both sexes, but nevertheless drove all animals to consume more cocaine. These findings show that chronic dampening of dopamine signalling can have both protective and deleterious effects on addiction‐relevant behaviours, depending on biological sex and dependent variable of interest.

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Previous research has indicated that reward-paired cues can enhance disadvantageous risky choice in both humans and rodents. Systemic administration of a serotonin 2C receptor antagonist can attenuate this cue-induced risk preference in rats. However, the neurocognitive mechanisms mediating this effect are currently unknown. We therefore assessed whether the serotonin 2C receptor antagonist RS 102221 is able to attenuate cue-enhanced risk preference via its actions in the lateral orbitofrontal cortex (lOFC) or prelimbic (PrL) area of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). A total of 32 male Long–Evans rats were trained on the cued version of the rat gambling task (rGT), a rodent analog of the human Iowa gambling task, and bilateral guide cannulae were implanted into the lOFC or PrL. Intra-lOFC infusions of the 5-HT 2C antagonist RS 102221 reduced risky choice in animals that showed a preference for the risky options of the rGT at baseline. This effect was not observed in optimal decision-makers, nor those that received infusions targeting the PrL. Given prior data showing that 5-HT 2C antagonists also improve reversal learning through the same neural locus, we hypothesized that reward-concurrent cues may amplify risky decision-making through cognitive inflexibility. We therefore devalued the sugar pellet rewards used in the cued rGT (crGT) through satiation and observed that decision-making patterns did not shift unless animals also received intra-lOFC RS 102221. Collectively, these data suggest that the lOFC is one critical site through which reward-concurrent cues promote risky choice patterns that are insensitive to reinforcer devaluation, and that 5-HT 2C antagonism may optimize choice by facilitating exploration.

Unlike the effect of footshock on THC- and URB597-induced anxiolytic effects, footshock does not promote THC or URB597-induced reward in a conditioned place preference paradigm. However, footshock stress reverses the sedative effects of 1 mg/kg THC.

Dopamine D2/3 receptor agonists are less likely to trigger dyskinesias than l-dopa while still offering relief from the motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD). However, these drugs can cause serious impulse control problems and gambling disorders. Adjunctive therapies capable of blocking these side effects without impacting the antiparkinsonian effect would be clinically useful. G-protein-coupled receptor 52 (GPR52) is an orphan Gs-protein-coupled receptor that is coexpressed with striatal D2 receptors. Activating GPR52 attenuates behaviors associated with increased striatal dopamine release without altering basal function. Iatrogenic gambling disorder may be mediated, at least partly, by striatal dopamine signaling. We therefore investigated whether 2 potent small-molecule GPR52 agonists (BD442618, BD502657) could block the increase in preference for uncertain outcomes caused by acute d-amphetamine and chronic ropinirole, without altering baseline choice patterns. In the rat betting task (rBT), subjects choose between a guaranteed reward (the “wager”) versus the 50:50 chance of double the wager or nothing. Although wager size varies across trial blocks, both options are constantly matched for expected value. The effects of BD442618 on the rBT were acutely assessed alone or in combination with d-amphetamine and subsequently in combination with chronic ropinirole. The latter experiment was then repeated with BD502657. BD442618 did not alter baseline decision making but attenuated the increase in preference for uncertainty caused by both acute amphetamine and chronic ropinirole administration. Similarly, BD502657 abrogated chronic ropinirole’s effects. These data provide the first evidence that GPR52 agonists may be useful in treating iatrogenic gambling disorder or other conditions hallmarked by hyperdopaminergic states.

Introduction: Cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome is becoming a more prominently reported side effect of cannabis containing high-dose D 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and designer cannabinoid drugs such as ''Spice.'' One active ingredient that has been found in ''Spice'' is 1-pentyl-3-(1-naphthoyl)indole (JWH-018), a synthetic full agonist of the cannabinoid 1 (CB 1) receptor. In this study, we evaluated the potential of different doses of JWH-018 to produce conditioned gaping in rats, an index of nausea. Materials and Methods: Rats received 3 daily conditioning trials in which saccharin was paired with JWH-018 (0.0, 0.1, 1, and 3 mg/kg, intraperitoneal [i.p.]). Then the potential of pretreatment with the CB 1 antagonist, rimonabant (SR), to prevent JWH-018-induced conditioned gaping was determined. To begin to understand the potential mechanism underlying JWH-018-induced nausea, serum collected from trunk blood was subjected to a corticosterone (CORT) analysis in rats receiving three daily injections with vehicle (VEH) or JWH-018 (3 mg/kg). Results: At doses of 1 and 3 mg/kg (i.p.), JWH-018 produced nausea-like conditioned gaping reactions. The conditioned gaping produced by 3 mg/kg JWH-018 was reversed by pretreatment with rimonabant, which did not modify gaping on its own. Treatment with JWH-018 elevated serum CORT levels compared to vehicle-treated rats. Conclusions: As we have previously reported with high-dose THC, JWH-018 produced conditioned gaping in rats, reflective of a nausea effect mediated by its action on CB 1 receptors and accompanied by elevated CORT, reflective of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) activation.

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Risky or maladaptive decision making is thought to be central to the etiology of both drug and gambling addiction. Win-concurrent cues can enhance disadvantageous, risky choice in both rats and humans, yet it is unclear which aspects of the cue-reward contingencies drive this effect. Here, we implemented six variants of the rat Gambling Task (rGT), in which animals can maximise their sugar pellet profits by avoiding options paired with higher per-trial gains but disproportionately longer and more frequent time-out penalties. When audiovisual cues were delivered concurrently with wins, and scaled in salience with reward size, significantly more rats preferred the risky options as compared to the uncued rGT. Similar results were observed when the relationship between reward size and cue complexity was inverted, and when cues were delivered concurrently with all outcomes. Conversely, risky choice did not increase when cues occurred randomly on 50% of trials, and decision making actually improved when cues were coincident with losses alone. As such, cues do not increase risky choice by simply elevating arousal, or amplifying the difference between wins and losses. It is instead important that the cues are reliably associated with wins; presenting the cues on losing outcomes as well as wins does not diminish their ability to drive risky choice. Computational analyses indicate that win-paired cues reduced the impact of losses on decision making. These results may help us understand how sensory stimulation can increase the addictive nature of gambling and gaming products.