Citation

Cornett EM, Goeders NE. Pharmacol. Biochem. Behav. 2013; 111: 51-57.

Affiliation

Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology & Neuroscience, Louisiana State University Shreveport Health Sciences Center, Shreveport, Louisiana 71103. Electronic address: ecorne@lsuhsc.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.pbb.2013.08.005

PMID

23958580

Abstract

Methamphetamine (MA) is a highly addictive psychostimulant drug of abuse for which no FDA-approved treatment exists. While high on MA, both male and female MA users report engaging in risky behaviors and are more likely to be involved in violent criminal activities and to engage in domestic and sexual violence. A unique aspect of MA is that it is typically used in binges. However, there is no animal model of MA self-administration that appears to represent a human MA self-administration binge. We recently developed a 96-hour MA self-administration paradigm in rats that more closely resembles how human MA users take the drug. Male and female rats were trained to self-administer MA for 96 consecutive hours for 5weeks. Responding by female and male rats tended to escalate to binge-like behavior, as the animals responded continuously during their normal periods of activity as well during their inactive periods for up to 72hours, followed by a crash of 6 or more hours. Thus, this 96-hour model of MA self-administration is a novel way to study MA addition in rats that may contribute to the development of improved treatments for recovering human MA users.

Language: en