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Prevention of the incubation of cocaine seeking by aerobic exercise in female rats

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Abstract

Background

Recent research has demonstrated that aerobic exercise can attenuate craving for drugs of abuse and reduce escalation and reinstatement of drug-seeking behavior in animal models. The present study examined the effects of aerobic exercise on the development of the incubation of cocaine-seeking behavior or the progressive increase in cocaine seeking over a protracted withdrawal period from cocaine self-administration.

Methods

Female rats were trained to self-administer cocaine (0.4 mg/kg/inf) during daily 6-h sessions for 10 days. Subsequently, access to cocaine and cocaine-paired cues was discontinued during a 3- or 30-day withdrawal period when rats had access to either a locked or unlocked running wheel. At the end of the withdrawal period, rats were reintroduced to the operant conditioning chamber and reexposed to cocaine-paired cues to examine cocaine-seeking behavior under extinction conditions.

Results

Rats with access to a locked running wheel during 30 days of withdrawal had significantly greater cue-induced cocaine-seeking behavior than rats that had access to an unlocked running wheel for 30 days. Further, there was robust incubation of cocaine seeking in rats with access to a locked running wheel as cocaine seeking was notably elevated at 30 vs. 3 days of withdrawal. However, cocaine-seeking behavior did not differ between rats with access to an unlocked running wheel for 30 vs. 3 days, indicating that incubation of cocaine seeking was suppressed following access to exercise for 30 days.

Conclusion

Aerobic exercise during extended withdrawal from cocaine self-administration decreased incubation of cue-induced cocaine-seeking behavior and may reduce vulnerability to relapse.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge helpful feedback from Drs. Yavin Shaham, Robert Meisel, Valerie Hedges, and Jack Smethells. The authors would also like to thank Vanessa Adamson, Yosef Amrami, Cole Batty, Luke Bushman, Clare Chamberlain, Arit Harvanko, Seth Johnson, Sarah Korthauer, Torie Lepak, Nathan Omdalen, Amy Saykao, Heather Veglahn, and Ashley Xiong for technical assistance and Krista Walkowiak, DVM, for veterinary care. Funding for this study was provided by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) grants T32 DA007097 (PI: Thomas W. Molitor), F31 DA036248 (NEZ), and R01 DA003240 (MEC).

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  1. Natalie E. Zlebnik

    Present address: Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, HSF II, Rm S241 20 Penn St, Baltimore, MD, 21201, USA

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  1. Department of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota, Diehl Hall, 505 Essex St. SE, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA

    Natalie E. Zlebnik & Marilyn E. Carroll

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  1. Natalie E. Zlebnik
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Correspondence to Natalie E. Zlebnik.

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Zlebnik, N.E., Carroll, M.E. Prevention of the incubation of cocaine seeking by aerobic exercise in female rats. Psychopharmacology 232, 3507–3513 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-015-3999-6

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