Acute ovarian hormone treatment in freely cycling female rats regulates distinct aspects of heroin seeking
- Department of Neuroscience, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina 29425, USA
- Corresponding authors: jamie.l.peters{at}ucdenver.edu
Abstract
Females are at higher risk for certain opioid addictive behaviors, but the influence of ovarian hormones is unknown. In our rat model of heroin self-administration, females exhibited higher relapse rates that correlated with rates of heroin seeking on the first extinction session. We administered estradiol alone, or in combination with progesterone, 30 min prior to the first extinction session in freely cycling, heroin-seeking female rats. Although neither treatment produced long-term effects on relapse, each treatment regulated distinct aspects of heroin seeking. Estradiol treatment enhanced extinction memory retention, whereas the combination treatment acutely reduced expression of heroin seeking.
Footnotes
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[Supplemental material is available for this article.]
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Article is online at http://www.learnmem.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/lm.050187.119.
- Received June 20, 2019.
- Accepted October 20, 2019.
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