Self-administration of fentanyl, cocaine and ketamine: effects on the pituitary?adrenal axis in rhesus monkeys

Abstract

There appears to be little commonality between different classes of abused drugs and their effects on the HPA axis, which calls into question the necessity for HPA axis stimulation in the reinforcement of drug-maintained behavior.

Topographic Imaging of Quantitative EEG in Response to Smoked Cocaine Self-Administration in Humans

“…While it is well known that cocaine stimulates cortisol secretion (Hopper et al, 2004;Ward et al, 1999), evidence for the involvement of cortisol and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in cocaine craving and reward has been somewhat contradictory (Ward et al, 1999;Lee et al, 2003;Sinha et al, 2003;Elman et al, 2003;Broadbear et al, 2004). Indeed, cocaine-induced plasma cortisol levels did not correlate with any of the subjective ratings employed in this study.…”

Self-administration of methohexital, midazolam and ethanol: effects on the pituitary?adrenal axis in rhesus monkeys

“…The procedure used in this study has been described previously (Broadbear et al 2004b). Drug self-administration sessions were scheduled twice daily for 130 min starting at approximately 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Saline was substituted on a frequent basis (25-50% of sessions), with saline sessions randomly interspersed between drug sessions.…”

“…Housing and surgical details can be found in Broadbear et al (2004b). The outer portion of the catheter was protected inside the cage by a flexible stainless steel tether, with one end attached to a double layer polyester jacket (Lomir, New York, N.Y., USA) worn by the monkey and the other bolted to the rear of the cage.…”

Mechanisms of Action and Persistent Neuroplasticity by Drugs of Abuse

“…The picture is somewhat different with regard to NMDAR antagonism-based psychedelics, because there is some evidence that dissociative psychedelics such as ketamine and PCP are self-administered, at least under some circumstances (Broadbear et al, 2004;Carroll et al, 2005;De Luca and Badiani, 2011). These effects are likely related to the ability of these substances to increase accumbal DA release and turnover (Carboni et al, 1989;Irifune et al, 1991) (see section II.F).…”