Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Conditioned Effects Of Heroin On Nitric Oxide Expression Are Susceptible To Extinction And Latent Inhibition, Jennifer L. Szczytkowski-Thomson, Donald Lysle

Psychology Educator Scholarship

The administration of heroin has been shown to inhibit the induction of nitric oxide, a molecule known to play a critical role in immune function. Previous research has shown that this alteration can be conditioned to environmental stimuli that have been associated with drug administration. However, it remains unknown whether the conditioned effects of heroin on nitric oxide formation follow accepted principles of learning. This study sought to determine whether manipulations that induce extinction and latent inhibition, two learning paradigms known to reduce the expression of conditioned responses, would alter heroin’s conditioned effects on the expression of inducible nitric oxide …