Anti-anxiety self-medication induced by incentive loss in rats

Dopamine, Noradrenaline and Differences in Sexual Behavior between Roman High and Low Avoidance Male Rats: A Microdialysis Study in the Medial Prefrontal Cortex

“…In this regard, it is pertinent to recall that a higher dopaminergic tone is considered to be responsible, at least in part, of many of the different and even opposite behavioral traits present in RHA and RLA rats. Accordingly, RHA rats are active copers, highly impulsive, novelty and sensation seekers and are prone to intake and abuse several classes of drugs of addiction, while RLA rats are reactive copers, hyperemotional and are prone to develop depressive-like symptoms (Zeier et al, 1978; Giorgi et al, 1994, 2003b, 2007; Corda et al, 1997, 2014; Escorihuela et al, 1999; Steimer and Driscoll, 2003; Lecca et al, 2004; Giménez-Llort et al, 2005; Carrasco et al, 2008; Fattore et al, 2009; Moreno et al, 2010; Coppens et al, 2012; Díaz-Morán et al, 2012; Sabariego et al, 2013; Manzo et al, 2014a,b; Oliveras et al, 2015), including the higher sexual motivation and better copulatory performance of sexually naïve and experienced RHA rats vs. RHA rats (Sanna et al, 2015). The higher increase in the concentrations of extracellular dopamine found in the dialysate from the mPFC of sexually naïve and experienced RHA rats resembles the higher extracellular dopamine concentrations found in the dialysate from the nucleus accumbens of sexually naïve and experienced RHA rats with respect to their RLA counterparts (Sanna et al, 2015).…”

Behavioral neuroscience of psychological pain

“…Using a consummatory extinction paradigm, Manzo et al (2014) observed that RLA rats, but not RHA rats, increased consumption of ethanol immediately after the initial extinction sessions. Such enhanced voluntary consumption of ethanol was not observed after acquisition sessions with 22% sucrose; moreover, enhanced consumption was not observed in control groups given access to water after each session, whether in acquisition or extinction.…”

“…Examining the complex interaction of different forms of "pain" will most certainly increase our understanding of how biological and psychological mechanisms contribute to the onset and maintenance of several psychological phenomena not obviously related. In addition to theoretical issues in learning theory, brain function, and evolution (Amsel, 1992;Bitterman, 1975;Gray and McNaughton, 2000), research on psychological pain may be relevant to the study of anxiety disorders , depression (Huston et al, 2013), chronic pain (Gatchel et al, 2007), addictive behavior (Manzo et al, 2014), and obesity (Adam and Epel, 2007), to name but a few. This review provides impetus for exploring these connections.…”

Identifying profiles of recovery from reward devaluation in rats

“…For example, although Roman high- and low-avoidance inbred rat strains exhibit similar levels of initial suppression in cSNC, high-avoidance rats recovered faster than low-avoidance rats from reward devaluation [18]. Moreover, low-avoidance rats were also observed to consume larger amounts of ethanol immediately after appetitive extinction in consummatory and instrumental situations [28]. Because ethanol has been shown to have anxiolytic properties in reward devaluation situations [25], this effect was interpreted as anti-anxiety self-medication [28].…”

“…Moreover, low-avoidance rats were also observed to consume larger amounts of ethanol immediately after appetitive extinction in consummatory and instrumental situations [28]. Because ethanol has been shown to have anxiolytic properties in reward devaluation situations [25], this effect was interpreted as anti-anxiety self-medication [28]. In humans, high comorbidity of anxiety and substance use disorders is well documented [54], but there may be diverse neurobiological mechanisms underlying this co-occurrence which may be better understood through the use of animal models that identify and incorporate heterogeneous subpopulations in their analyses.…”