Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Effects of methamphetamine self-administration on actigraphy-based sleep parameters in rhesus monkeys

  • Original Investigation
  • Published:
Psychopharmacology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Rationale

Sleep disorders and substance abuse are highly comorbid. Although methamphetamine is a very commonly abused drug, to the best of our knowledge, no study has evaluated its effects on sleep during drug use and abstinence under well-controlled conditions in laboratory animals.

Objectives

The objective of this study was to examine the effects of methamphetamine self-administration on sleep-like measures in nonhuman primates.

Methods

Adult male rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta; n = 4) self-administered methamphetamine (0.01 and 0.03 mg/kg/injection, i.v.) under a fixed-ratio 20 schedule of reinforcement (60-min sessions once a day, 5 days per week) for 5 weeks. Sleep-like measures were evaluated with Actiwatch monitors before, during, and after each period of drug self-administration.

Results

Both doses of methamphetamine reliably maintained self-administration. Methamphetamine (0.03 mg/kg) increased derived measures of latency to sleep onset and sleep fragmentation, and decreased sleep efficiency compared to abstinence, and higher methamphetamine intake predicted worse sleep quality. However, sleep normalized immediately after the discontinuation of methamphetamine self-administration.

Conclusions

Methamphetamine markedly disrupted sleep-like measures; however, methamphetamine self-administration did not disrupt sleep quality during subsequent periods of drug abstinence.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Andersen ML, Kessler E, Murnane KS, Mcclung JC, Tufik S, Howell LL (2010a) Dopamine transporter-related effects of modafinil in rhesus monkeys. Psychopharmacol 210:439–448

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Andersen ML, Santos-Silva R, Bittencourt LR, Tufik S (2010b) Prevalence of erectile dysfunction complaints associated with sleep disturbances in Sao Paulo, Brazil: a population-based survey. Sleep Med 11:1019–1024

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Andersen ML, Martins RCS, Matos GP, Tufik S (2010c) Effect of sleep deprivation on cocaine-induced convulsions in rats. Sleep Science 3:69–73

    Google Scholar 

  • Andersen ML, Sawyer EK, Howell LL (2012) Influence of chronic RTI-336 treatment on behavior and hormonal levels in rhesus monkeys. Exp Clin Psychopharmacol 20:77–83

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Balster RL, Schuster CR (1973) A comparison of d-amphetamine, l-amphetamine, and methamphetamine self-administration in rhesus monkeys. Pharm Biochem Behav 1:67–71

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Balster RL, Kilbey MM, Ellinwood EH Jr (1976) Methamphetamine self-administration in the cat. Psychopharmacologia 46:229–233

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Brecht ML, von Mayrhauser C, Anglin MD (2000) Predictors of relapse after treatment for methamphetamine use. J Psychoactive Drugs 32:211–220

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Comer SD, Hart CL, Ward AS, Haney M, Foltin RW, Fischman MW (2001) Effects of repeated oral methamphetamine administration in humans. Psychopharmacology 155:397–404

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cruickshank CC, Dyer KR (2009) A review of the clinical pharmacology of methamphetamine. Addiction 104:1085–1099

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Drager LF, Krieger EM, Lorenzi-Filho G (2007) Sympathetic activity, heart failure, obesity, and metabolic syndrome: is there any role for obstructive sleep apnea? Hypertension 49:e38

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Freeman KB, Wang Z, Woolverton WL (2010) Self-administration of (+)-methamphetamine and (+)-pseudoephedrine, alone and combined, by rhesus monkeys. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 95:198–202

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gossop MR, Bradley BP, Brewis RK (1982) Amphetamine withdrawal and sleep disturbance. Drug Alcohol Depend 10:177–183

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hart CL, Ward AS, Haney M, Foltin RW, Fischman MW (2001) Methamphetamine self-administration by humans. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 157:75–81

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hasler BP, Smith LJ, Cousins JC, Bootzin RR (2012) Circadian rhythms, sleep, and substance abuse. Sleep Med Rev 16:67–81

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Howell LL, Wilcox KM (2001) Intravenous drug self-administration in nonhuman primates. In: Buccafusco JJ (ed) Methods of behavior analysis in neuroscience. CRC, Boca Raton, pp 91–110

    Google Scholar 

  • Karila L, Weinstein A, Aubin HJ, Benyamina A, Reynaud M, Batki SL (2010) Pharmacological approaches to methamphetamine dependence: a focused review. Br J Clin Pharmacol 69:578–592

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mann TM, Williams KE, Pearce PC, Scott EA (2005) A novel method for activity monitoring in small non-human primates. Lab Anim 39:69–77

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marshall BD, Grafstein E, Buxton JA, Qi J, Wood E, Shoveller JA, Kerr T (2012) Frequent methamphetamine injection predicts emergency department utilization among street-involved youth. Public Heath 126:47–53

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McGregor C, Srisurapanont M, Jittiwutikarn J, Laobhripatr S et al (2005) The nature, time course and severity of methamphetamine withdrawal. Addiction 100:1320–1329

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Murnane KS, Andersen ML, Rice KC, Howell LL (2012) Selective serotonin 2A receptor antagonism attenuates the wake-promoting and dopamine releasing effects of amphetamine.

  • Naidoo S, Smith D (2011) Methamphetamine abuse: a review of the literature and case report in a young male. SADJ 66:124–127

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Perez AY, Kirkpatrick MG, Gunderson EW, Marrone G, Silver R, Foltin RW, Hart CL (2008) Residual effects of intranasal methamphetamine on sleep, mood, and performance. Drug Alcohol Depend 94:258–262

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Roth ME, Carroll ME (2004) Sex differences in the acquisition of IV methamphetamine self-administration and subsequent maintenance under a progressive ratio schedule in rats. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 172:443–449

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Srisurapanont M, Jarusuraisin N, Jittiwutikan J (1999) Amphetamine withdrawal: I. reliability, validity and factor structure of a measure. Aust NZ J Psychiatry 33:89–93

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Szymanski FM, Filipiak KJ, Hrynkiewicz-Szymanska A, Grabowski M, Dabrowska-Kugacka A, Opolski G (2011) The high risk of obstructive sleep apnea—an independent risk factor of erectile dysfunction in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction patients. J Sex Med 8:1434–1438

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Terrill PI, Mason DG, Wilson SJ (2010) Development of a continuous multisite accelerometry system for studying movements during sleep. Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc 2010:6150–6153

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Van Cauter E, Spiegel K, Tasali E, Leproult R (2008) Metabolic consequences of sleep and sleep loss. Sleep Med 9:S23–S28

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wang Z, Woolverton WL (2007) Estimating the relative reinforcing strength of (+/-)-3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and its isomers in rhesus monkeys: comparison to (+)-methamphetamine. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 189:483–488

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Woolverton WL, Cervo L, Johanson CE (1984) Effects of repeated methamphetamine administration on methamphetamine self-administration in rhesus monkeys. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 21:737–741

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yokel RA, Pickens R (1973) Self-administration of optical isomers of amphetamine and methylamphetamine by rats. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 187:27–33

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zanini GAV, Tufik S, Andersen ML, Martins RCS, Bueno OFA, Rodrigues CC, Pompeia S (2012) Free recall of word lists under total sleep deprivation and after recovery sleep. Sleep 35:223–230

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors express their gratitude to Lisa Neidert, Juliet Brown, and Mi Zhou for their excellent assistance with the experiments and Eileen Kessler Sawyer who gave helpful comments on the manuscript. This research was supported by USPHS Grants DA10344 (LLH), DA31246 (LLH), and P51OD11132 (Yerkes National Primate Research Center) and by AFIP and CNPq (MLA).

Conflict of interest

The authors declared no conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, 954 Gatewood Rd, Atlanta, GA, 30329, USA

    Monica L. Andersen, Maylen P. Diaz, Kevin S. Murnane & Leonard L. Howell

  2. Departamento de Psicobiologia, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Monica L. Andersen

  3. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University, 954 Gatewood Rd, Atlanta, GA, 30329, USA

    Leonard L. Howell

Authors
  1. Monica L. Andersen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Maylen P. Diaz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Kevin S. Murnane
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Leonard L. Howell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Leonard L. Howell.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Andersen, M.L., Diaz, M.P., Murnane, K.S. et al. Effects of methamphetamine self-administration on actigraphy-based sleep parameters in rhesus monkeys. Psychopharmacology 227, 101–107 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-012-2943-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-012-2943-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation