Kassandra Looschen, Ann Jeffers, Songjukta Chakraborty, Colin Salisbury, Anastasia Dodge, Mason Hochstetler, Swarup Mitra
{"title":"Adolescent stress avoidance influences cue-induced heroin seeking and chaperonin gene expression in the dorsal striatum of adult female rats.","authors":"Kassandra Looschen, Ann Jeffers, Songjukta Chakraborty, Colin Salisbury, Anastasia Dodge, Mason Hochstetler, Swarup Mitra","doi":"10.1080/00952990.2025.2469793","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p><i>Background:</i> Females remain underrepresented in opioid use disorder (OUD) research, particularly regarding dorsal striatal neuroadaptations. Chaperonins seem to play a role in opioid-induced neural plasticity, yet their contribution to OUD-related changes in the dorsal striatum (DS) remains poorly understood. Given known sex differences in opioid sensitivity, it is important to determine how chaperonin expression contributes to OUD-related adaptations in females.<i>Objective:</i> To investigate how stressor controllability during adolescence influences heroin self-administration (SA) and responses to drug-paired cues in adult female rats, focusing on differential gene expression of chaperonins in the DS.<i>Methods:</i> Female rats were exposed to stress avoidance training during adolescence. These rats underwent, in adulthood, heroin SA followed by cue-induced seeking tests after early and prolonged abstinence.<i>Results:</i> Heroin intake during SA was similar between stress-avoiding and stress-naïve females (<i>n</i> = 8/group, <i>p</i> = .89). However, stress-avoiding females exhibited reduced drug-seeking behavior in response to drug cues at 14 days of abstinence compared to controls (<i>p</i> < .05; d = 0.99), suggesting a protective effect of stressor controllability. qPCR showed that the gene expression of Hspa5, a heat shock protein, was elevated in the dorsolateral striatum (DLS) of stress-avoiding females (<i>p</i> < .05; Cohen d > 1.0). Hspb1 gene expression was upregulated in the dorsomedial striatum (DMS) of stress-avoiding females (<i>p</i> < .05; d > 1.0).<i>Conclusion:</i> These findings suggest that chaperonin dysregulation links opioid exposure and stress avoidance conditions. Increased Hspa5 in the DLS and Hspb1 in the DMS may contribute to the observed behavioral differences supporting further preclinical investigation with clinical implications for stress and OUD.</p>","PeriodicalId":48957,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse","volume":" ","pages":"1-9"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00952990.2025.2469793","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, CLINICAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Females remain underrepresented in opioid use disorder (OUD) research, particularly regarding dorsal striatal neuroadaptations. Chaperonins seem to play a role in opioid-induced neural plasticity, yet their contribution to OUD-related changes in the dorsal striatum (DS) remains poorly understood. Given known sex differences in opioid sensitivity, it is important to determine how chaperonin expression contributes to OUD-related adaptations in females.Objective: To investigate how stressor controllability during adolescence influences heroin self-administration (SA) and responses to drug-paired cues in adult female rats, focusing on differential gene expression of chaperonins in the DS.Methods: Female rats were exposed to stress avoidance training during adolescence. These rats underwent, in adulthood, heroin SA followed by cue-induced seeking tests after early and prolonged abstinence.Results: Heroin intake during SA was similar between stress-avoiding and stress-naïve females (n = 8/group, p = .89). However, stress-avoiding females exhibited reduced drug-seeking behavior in response to drug cues at 14 days of abstinence compared to controls (p < .05; d = 0.99), suggesting a protective effect of stressor controllability. qPCR showed that the gene expression of Hspa5, a heat shock protein, was elevated in the dorsolateral striatum (DLS) of stress-avoiding females (p < .05; Cohen d > 1.0). Hspb1 gene expression was upregulated in the dorsomedial striatum (DMS) of stress-avoiding females (p < .05; d > 1.0).Conclusion: These findings suggest that chaperonin dysregulation links opioid exposure and stress avoidance conditions. Increased Hspa5 in the DLS and Hspb1 in the DMS may contribute to the observed behavioral differences supporting further preclinical investigation with clinical implications for stress and OUD.
期刊介绍:
The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse (AJDAA) is an international journal published six times per year and provides an important and stimulating venue for the exchange of ideas between the researchers working in diverse areas, including public policy, epidemiology, neurobiology, and the treatment of addictive disorders. AJDAA includes a wide range of translational research, covering preclinical and clinical aspects of the field. AJDAA covers these topics with focused data presentations and authoritative reviews of timely developments in our field. Manuscripts exploring addictions other than substance use disorders are encouraged. Reviews and Perspectives of emerging fields are given priority consideration.
Areas of particular interest include: public health policy; novel research methodologies; human and animal pharmacology; human translational studies, including neuroimaging; pharmacological and behavioral treatments; new modalities of care; molecular and family genetic studies; medicinal use of substances traditionally considered substances of abuse.