Exploratory behavior and withdrawal signs in Crayfish: Chronic central morphine injections and termination effects

Imeh-Nathaniel, Adebobola; Okon, Marvin; Huber, Robert; Nathaniel, Thomas I.

doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2014.01.026

Cited by 10 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…Locomotion was still elevated in withdrawal animals when compared to the saline control suggesting that morphine priming can reinstate an already established increase in locomotion irrespective of dose. This observation reveals the effects of morphine induced locomotion as well as the ability to restore exploratory behavior after extinction (Imeh-Nathaniel et al, 2014 ).…”

Section: Novel Stimuli Directly Augment Exploration and Appetitive Momentioning

confidence: 74%

“…Exploratory behaviors such as locomotion, rearing, and antennae movements enhanced the ability of crayfish to seek rewards. A previous study characterized morphine-induced conditioned exploratory patterns and quantified atypical behaviors associated with termination of drug administration (Imeh-Nathaniel et al, 2014 ). In this study, when morphine was paired with a novel environment, locomotion, antennae movements, and rearing were enhanced in crayfish.…”

Section: Novel Stimuli Directly Augment Exploration and Appetitive Momentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Sensitivity of the Crayfish Reward System to Mammalian Drugs of Abuse

et al. 2017

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The idea that addiction occurs when the brain is not able to differentiate whether specific reward circuits were triggered by adaptive natural rewards or falsely activated by addictive drugs exist in several models of drug addiction. The suitability of crayfish (Orconectes rusticus) for drug addiction research arises from developmental variation of growth, life span, reproduction, behavior and some quantitative traits, especially among isogenic mates reared in the same environment. This broad spectrum of traits makes it easier to analyze the effect of mammalian drugs of abuse in shaping behavioral phenotype. Moreover, the broad behavioral repertoire allows the investigation of self-reinforcing circuitries involving appetitive and exploratory motor behavior, while the step-wise alteration of the phenotype by metamorphosis allows accurate longitudinal analysis of different behavioral states. This paper reviews a series of recent experimental findings that evidence the suitability of crayfish as an invertebrate model system for the study of drug addiction. Results from these studies reveal that unconditioned exposure to mammalian drugs of abuse produces a variety of stereotyped behaviors. Moreover, if presented in the context of novelty, drugs directly stimulate exploration and appetitive motor patterns along with molecular processes for drug conditioned reward. Findings from these studies indicate the existence of drug sensitive circuitry in crayfish that facilitates exploratory behavior and appetitive motor patterns via increased incentive salience of environmental stimuli or by increasing exploratory motor patterns. This work demonstrates the potential of crayfish as a model system for research into the neural mechanisms of addiction, by contributing an evolutionary, comparative context to our understanding of natural reward as an important life-sustaining process.

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Section: Novel Stimuli Directly Augment Exploration and Appetitive Momentioning

confidence: 74%

Section: Novel Stimuli Directly Augment Exploration and Appetitive Momentioning

confidence: 99%

The Sensitivity of the Crayfish Reward System to Mammalian Drugs of Abuse

et al. 2017

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“…In addition, crayfish have been used to study drugs of abuse other than alcohol. For example, Huber et al (2011) demonstrated that crayfish display conditioned place preference following injections of cocaine and amphetamines, and morphine injections into the crayfish brain have been shown to facilitate locomotion and exploratory behaviors ( Imeh-Nathaniel et al, 2014 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Ethanol on Sensory Inputs to the Medial Giant Interneurons of Crayfish

Swierzbinski

Herberholz

2018

Front. Physiol.

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Crayfish are capable of two rapid, escape reflexes that are mediated by two pairs of giant interneurons, the lateral giants (LG) and the medial giants (MG), which respond to threats presented to the abdomen or head and thorax, respectively. The LG has been the focus of study for many decades and the role of GABAergic inhibition on the escape circuit is well-described. More recently, we demonstrated that the LG circuit is sensitive to the acute effects of ethanol and this sensitivity is likely mediated by interactions between ethanol and the GABAergic system. The MG neurons, however, which receive multi-modal sensory inputs and are located in the brain, have been less studied despite their established importance during many naturally occurring behaviors. Using a combination of electrophysiological and neuropharmacological techniques, we report here that the MG neurons are sensitive to ethanol and experience an increase in amplitudes of post-synaptic potentials following ethanol exposure. Moreover, they are affected by GABAergic mechanisms: the facilitatory effect of acute EtOH can be suppressed by pretreatment with a GABA receptor agonist whereas the inhibitory effects resulting from a GABA agonist can be occluded by ethanol exposure. Together, our findings suggest intriguing neurocellular interactions between alcohol and the crayfish GABAergic system. These results enable further exploration of potentially conserved neurochemical mechanisms underlying the interactions between alcohol and neural circuitry that controls complex behaviors.

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“…Psychostimulant effects closely parallel those seen in mammals, and appear to be a critical requirement for the development of rewarding functions in crayfish. Addictive drugs, which show psychostimulant effects, at least at lower concentrations, include several substituted amphetamines and cathinones (Gore et al, in review) and opioids such as morphine and heroin (Imeh-Nathaniel, Okon, Huber, & Nathaniel, 2014). Consistent with this hypothesis, depression of morphine function produces a corresponding decrease in exploratory motor patterns (Imeh-Nathaniel et al, 2014).…”

Section: Intoxication and Psychostimulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Crayfish Learning: Addiction and the Ganglionic Brain

Staaden

Huber

2018

Perspect Behav Sci

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Recognizing addiction as a phenomenon with deep evolutionary roots grants valuable new perspectives into understanding its behavioral features, as well as its underlying neural mechanisms and genetic architecture. Although now generally misbranded as "human drugs of abuse," addictive plant alkaloids originally arose as potent chemical defenses against insect herbivory. The products of this evolutionary arms race, compounds such as nicotine, cathinone, or morphine, target essential biological mechanisms for motivation and learning and act as weaponized disruptors. Human vulnerabilities to these addictive drugs may thus represent little more than collateral damage arising from deep homology, i.e., shared biological implementation of behavioral functions with taxa that trace back to the early divergence of bilateral metazoans. Consistent with such a view, invertebrate preparations exhibit a rich spectrum of behavioral and neural consequences in response to drug exposure. Although there is certainly evidence for addiction-like phenomena in many invertebrate lineages, the present review focuses attention primarily on our recent work in crayfish. Using this decapod crustacean model, we have characterized a range of amphetamines, cathinones, and opioids for evidence of unconditioned intoxication, sympathomimetic properties, psychostimulant sensitization, conditioned cue learning, and operant selfadministration. Overall, our findings on drug-sensitive reward in crayfish bear striking similarities to equivalent phenomena illustrated in mammals. Experimentally tractable invertebrate models may thus provide fundamental insights into the homo-and paralogous mechanisms mediating responses to addictive drugs, while illuminating the limits of such contrasts.

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Exploratory behavior and withdrawal signs in Crayfish: Chronic central morphine injections and termination effects

Cited by 10 publications

References 44 publications

The Sensitivity of the Crayfish Reward System to Mammalian Drugs of Abuse

The Sensitivity of the Crayfish Reward System to Mammalian Drugs of Abuse

Effects of Ethanol on Sensory Inputs to the Medial Giant Interneurons of Crayfish

Crayfish Learning: Addiction and the Ganglionic Brain

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