Influence of the Novelty-Seeking Endophenotype on the Rewarding Effects of Psychostimulant Drugs in Animal Models

Abstract

Novelty seeking (NS), defined as a tendency to pursue novel and intense emotional sensations and experiences, is one of the most relevant individual factors predicting drug use among humans. High novelty seeking (HNS) individuals present an increased risk of drug use compared to low novelty seekers. The NS endophenotype may explain some of the differences observed among individuals exposed to drugs of abuse in adolescence. However, there is little research about the particular response of adolescents to drugs of abuse in function of this endophenotype, and the data that do exist are inconclusive. The present work reviews the literature regarding the influence of NS on psychostimulant reward, with particular focus on adolescent subjects. First, the different animal models of NS and the importance of this endophenotype in adolescence are discussed. Later, studies that have used the most common animal models of reward (self-administration, conditioned place preference paradigms) to evaluate how the NS trait influences the rewarding effects of psychostimulants are reviewed. Finally, possible explanations for the enhanced risk of developing substance dependence among HNS individuals are discussed. In conclusion, the studies referred to in this review show that the HNS trait is associated with: (1) increased initial sensitivity to the rewarding effects of psychostimulants, (2) a higher level of drug craving when the subject is exposed to the environmental cues associated with the drug, and (3) enhanced long-term vulnerability to relapse to drug consumption after prolonged abstinence.

Caracterización conductual y neuroinmune de la resiliencia al estrés social: Efectos reforzantes de la cocaína

“…Por lo tanto la exposición a una DS repetida induciría un incremento prolongado en el tiempo del valor motivacional de la cocaína incrementándose por tanto su potencial de abuso en los sujetos estresados. Nuestros resultados confirman numerosos estudios que han demostrado que la DS en ratones adolescentes y adultos, aumenta los efectos reforzantes de la cocaína utilizando el CPL (Arenas et al, 2016;Montagud-Romero et al, 2016a;Rodríguez-Arias et al, 2015, 2017Ferrer-Pérez et al, 2018a), o la autoadministración de cocaína (Boyson, Miguel, Quadros, DeBold y Miczek, 2011;Holly et al, 2016;Newman, Leonard, Arena, Almeida y Miczek, 2018;Arena, Covington, Herbert, DeBold y Miczek, 2019).…”

Inexpensive Home Infrared Living/Environment Sensor with Regional Thermal Information for Infant Physical and Psychological Development

“…Notably, nighttime BD (0.99) increased from St1 to St3 and then decreased at St4. Considering the understanding of place preference in experimental psychology [ 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 ], the BD age-dependent shifts could be interpreted as an index of the infants’ emotional development evoked by socially interactive feeding. There was a minimal relationship between BD and IT or ID ( Figure 2 F,G) suggesting a lack of preference based on internal environmental conditions.…”

“…These results suggest that developmental ‘relay’ systems may be formed through complex psychophysical and circadian mechanisms via feeding experiences and nighttime biological activity. Because food and sociality are strong factors that induce anticipatory behavioral and physiological responses [ 54 , 55 ] as functions of the brain limbic systems [ 36 , 37 , 46 , 55 , 56 , 57 ], these differences in time-sequence before/after social and dietary rewards in developmental day–night cycles might reflect psychological memory of expectant and satisfied states.…”

“…The former pathway passed circuits via different B-mechanisms and then reached St4 ( Figure 13 B). The circadian positive and negative correlation shift emerged ( Figure 2 B) as contributing to the formation of more complex emotional mechanisms with a psychologically relevant BD [ 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 ] –BT [ 57 , 60 ] correlation. In contrast, the latter influenced the underlying basic mechanism because of the longitudinal effect in St2 but not St3, just after the dramatic change in home environment and when feeding times were reduced from three to two.…”

“…Place preference has often been used as an estimate of motivation [ 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 ]. Here we defined time spent near the door of the cage (biological door preference [ 29 ]) as an indication of the animals’ motivation to explore outside of the home environment.…”