The physiological mechanism through which food restriction (FR) enhances the biobehavioral actions of psychostimulants is unknown but may involve the gut peptide ghrelin. Plasma levels of ghrelin are increased by FR and reduced by eating. Moreover, systemically administered ghrelin crosses into the brain and is known to augment the locomotor-stimulating effects of cocaine [COC: Wellman et al, 2004]. This study sought to determine whether pretreatment with ghrelin (5 nmol) would enhance the rewarding properties of COC (0.0, 0.312, 0.625, or 1.25 mg/kg i.p.) as measured by conditioned place preference (CPP). Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were given free access to both sides of a CPP chamber to determine initial side preference. The rats were then confined for 30 min to either their preferred side or non-preferred side on 8 consecutive days. When rats were confined to the least preferred side, each was injected with 0.5 ml (i.p.) of either ghrelin (5 nmol) or saline 1 h before the conditioning trial and then injected (i.p.) with one of the COC doses immediately prior to the conditioning trial. On alternate days, rats were injected with vehicle one hour before and again immediately before the conditioning trial. Place preference scores were computed as the differences in time (min) spent on the least preferred side of the chamber for the pre-test and the post conditioning test, covaried by the initial degree of preference (% time spent on the black side during the pre-test). These analyses indicated a significant interaction between ghrelin pretreatment and COC dose on changes in preference scores. Significantly higher place preference scores were noted for rats treated with either 0.312 or 0.625 mg/kg COC doses, but only when these COC doses were preceded by administration of 5 nmol ghrelin. In contrast, saline pretreated rats exhibited significant CPP at the 1.25 mg/kg COC dose, but the ghrelin pretreated group did not. These results provide partial support for the contention that ghrelin pretreatment can augment the rewarding effects of subthreshold doses of COC in a CPP procedure. Moreover, these findings are consistent with the view that ghrelin may play a role in the capacity of FR to augment psychostimulant action.

Systemic infusions of the orexigenic peptide ghrelin (GHR) increase dopamine levels within the nucleus accumbens and augment cocaine stimulated locomotion and conditioned place preference in rats; observations that suggest an important role for ghrelin and GHR receptors (GHR-Rs) in drug reinforcement. In the present studies, we examined the development of cocaine locomotor sensitization in rats sustaining either pharmacologic antagonism or genetic ablation of GHR-Rs. In a pharmacologic study, adult male rats were injected (i.p.) with either 0, 3 or 6 mg/kg JMV 2959 (a GHR-R1 receptor antagonist) and 20 minutes later with either vehicle or 10 mg/kg cocaine HCl on each of 7 consecutive days. Rats pretreated with JMV 2959 showed significantly attenuated cocaine-induced hyperlocomotion. In a second study, adult wild type (WT) or mutant rats sustaining ENU-induced knockout of GHR-R (GHR-R (−/−)) received daily injections (i.p) of vehicle (0.9% saline) or 10.0 mg/kg cocaine HCl for 14 successive days. GHR-R null rats treated repeatedly with cocaine showed diminished development of cocaine locomotor sensitization relative to WT rats treated with cocaine. To verify the lack of GHR-R function in the GHR-R (−/−) rats, a separate feeding experiment was conducted in which WT rats, but not GHR-R (−/−) rats, were noted to eat more after a systemic injection of 15 nmol ghrelin than after vehicle. These results suggest that GHR-R activity is required for the induction of locomotor sensitization to cocaine and complement an emerging literature implicating central GHR systems in drug reward. Ghrelin (GHR) is an orexigenic gut peptide that is transported across the blood brain barrier and interacts with GHR receptors (GHR-R) located on ventral tegmental dopamine neurons.

Ghrelin (GHR) is an orexigenic gut peptide that interacts with brain ghrelin receptors (GHR-Rs) to promote food intake. Recent research suggests that GHR acts as a modulator of motivated behavior, suggesting a direct influence of GHR on brain reinforcement circuits. In the present studies, we investigated the role of GHR and GHR-Rs in brain reinforcement function. Pharmacological Magnetic Resonance Imaging was used to spatially-resolve the functional activation produced by systemic administration of an orexigenic GHR dose. The imaging data revealed a focal activation of a network of subcortical structures that comprise brain reinforcement circuits – ventral tegmental area, lateral hypothalamus and nucleus accumbens. We next analyzed whether brain reinforcement circuits require functional GHR-Rs. To this purpose, wild type (WT) or mutant rats sustaining ENU-induced knockout of GHR-Rs (GHR-R null rats) were implanted with stimulating electrodes aimed at the lateral hypothalamus, shaped to respond for intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS) and then tested using a rate-frequency procedure to examine ICSS response patterns. WT rats were readily shaped using stimulation intensities of 75 uA, whereas GHR-R null rats required 300 uA for ICSS shaping. No differences in rate-frequency curves were noted for WT rats at 75 uA and GHR-R null rats at 300 uA. When current intensity was lowered to 100 uA, GHR-R null rats did not respond for ICSS. Taken collectively, these data suggest that systemic GHR can activate mesolimbic dopaminergic areas, and highlight a facilitative role of GHR-Rs on the activity of brain reinforcement systems.

Aims Ghrelin (GHR) is an orexigenic gut peptide that interacts with ghrelin receptors (GHR-Rs) to modulate brain reinforcement circuits. Systemic GHR infusions augment cocaine stimulated locomotion and conditioned place preference (CPP) in rats, whereas genetic or pharmacological ablation of GHR-Rs has been shown to attenuate the acute locomotor-enhancing effects of nicotine, cocaine, amphetamine and alcohol and to blunt the CPP induced by food, alcohol, amphetamine and cocaine in mice. The stimulant nicotine can induce CPP and like amphetamine and cocaine, repeated administration of nicotine induces locomotor sensitization in rats. A key issue is whether pharmacological antagonism of GHR-Rs would similarly attenuate nicotine-induced locomotor sensitization. Method To examine the role of GHR-Rs in the behavioral sensitizing effects of nicotine, adult male rats were injected with either 0, 3 or 6 mg/kg of the GHR-R receptor antagonist JMV 2959 (i.p.) and 20 minutes later with either vehicle or 0.4 mg/kg nicotine hydrogen tartrate (s.c.) on each of 7 consecutive days. Results Rats treated with nicotine alone showed robust locomotor sensitization, whereas rats pretreated with JMV 2959 showed significantly attenuated nicotine-induced hyperlocomotion. Conclusions These results suggest that GHR-R activity is required for the induction of locomotor sensitization to nicotine and complement an emerging literature implicating central GHR systems in drug reward/reinforcement.

Studies of the biobehavioral actions of psychostimulants commonly focus on locomotion and less commonly on feeding, and only rarely are these measures considered in conjunction within the same animal. The present study compared the impact of (+)-amphetamine and three amphetamine analogs, PAL-287, PAL-313, and PAL-353, on eating and locomotion assessed concurrently using an automated activity/feeding chamber during a daily 45 min session. Each analog is a potent releaser of norepinephrine and of dopamine, but exerts differential serotonin releasing activity (PAL-287 > PAL-313 > amphetamine > PAL-353). Rats were tested with each of five doses of drug (0, 2, 4, 8, or 16 umol/kg, i.p.), given in equimolar concentrations and in random dose order. PAL-353, an analog with minimal serotonin-relasing capacity, markedly stimulated forward locomotion at 2, 4, 8 and 16 umol/kg, as did amphetamine, whereas PAL-287 and PAL-313 did not. In contrast to the locomotor findings, all four amphetamine-like drugs exerted similar effects on the suppression of food intake. These results suggest that the capacity of an amphetamine analog (i.e. amphetamine and PAL-353) to stimulate serotonin release can diminish its psychostimulant action on locomotion, but does not reliably augment drug-induced hypophagia.