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Altered Motivation & Dopamine Subcircuit Plasticity Unique To Sex During Protracted Opioid Withdrawal, Devan Marc Gomez

Dissertations (1934 -)

Opioid use disorder (OUD) is associated with enduring psychological withdrawal symptoms believed to contribute to drug abuse. Amongst these are shifts in motivational states, wherein pursuit of drug consumption exceeds that of non-drug rewards, reinforcing escalated opioid use and relapse vulnerability. A critical regulator of behavioral reinforcement, the mesoaccumbal dopamine system is thought to be both necessary and sufficient for opioid motivation. However, previous research into its involvement in opioid withdrawal has been limited to acute rather than protracted timepoints, global neuroadaptations rather than those in subcircuits, and overwhelmingly focused on males over females. Using a rodent model of self-administration …