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Social Contact Reinforces Cocaine Self-Administration in Young Adult Male Rats: The Role of Social Reinforcement in Vulnerability to Drug Use

Drug-using peers are recognized as a leading factor influencing drug use among adolescents and young adults. One mechanism by which peers influence drug use is by providing social reinforcement for using drugs. Social reinforcement may be provided in multiple ways, including by making social contact...

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Autores principales: Smith, Mark A., Cha, Hannah S., Griffith, Annie K., Sharp, Jessica L.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8588844/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34776897
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2021.771114
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author Smith, Mark A.
Cha, Hannah S.
Griffith, Annie K.
Sharp, Jessica L.
author_facet Smith, Mark A.
Cha, Hannah S.
Griffith, Annie K.
Sharp, Jessica L.
author_sort Smith, Mark A.
collection PubMed
description Drug-using peers are recognized as a leading factor influencing drug use among adolescents and young adults. One mechanism by which peers influence drug use is by providing social reinforcement for using drugs. Social reinforcement may be provided in multiple ways, including by making social contact contingent on drug use (i.e., an individual must use drugs to gain/maintain access to a peer). The purpose of this study was to develop a preclinical model in which intravenous cocaine self-administration was positively reinforced by access to a social partner. Young adult male rats were trained to self-administer cocaine in operant conditioning chambers with a guillotine door that could be opened to an adjacent compartment housing either a social partner or a non-social stimulus. Once cocaine self-administration was established, the guillotine door was activated, and cocaine intake was reinforced by brief access to either a social (age- and sex-matched peer) or non-social (black-and-white athletic sock) stimulus. Contingent access to a social partner rapidly increased cocaine self-administration. Total cocaine intake was 2- to 3-fold greater in rats assigned to the social versus non-social condition across a 100-fold dose range. Cocaine intake rapidly increased when rats in the original non-social group were later provided with social partners, whereas cocaine intake resisted change and remained elevated when rats in the original social group had their partners removed. These data indicate that contingent access to a social partner increases drug intake and suggest that social reinforcement may represent a vulnerability factor that is particularly resistant to psychosocial interventions.
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spelling pubmed-85888442021-11-13 Social Contact Reinforces Cocaine Self-Administration in Young Adult Male Rats: The Role of Social Reinforcement in Vulnerability to Drug Use Smith, Mark A. Cha, Hannah S. Griffith, Annie K. Sharp, Jessica L. Front Behav Neurosci Neuroscience Drug-using peers are recognized as a leading factor influencing drug use among adolescents and young adults. One mechanism by which peers influence drug use is by providing social reinforcement for using drugs. Social reinforcement may be provided in multiple ways, including by making social contact contingent on drug use (i.e., an individual must use drugs to gain/maintain access to a peer). The purpose of this study was to develop a preclinical model in which intravenous cocaine self-administration was positively reinforced by access to a social partner. Young adult male rats were trained to self-administer cocaine in operant conditioning chambers with a guillotine door that could be opened to an adjacent compartment housing either a social partner or a non-social stimulus. Once cocaine self-administration was established, the guillotine door was activated, and cocaine intake was reinforced by brief access to either a social (age- and sex-matched peer) or non-social (black-and-white athletic sock) stimulus. Contingent access to a social partner rapidly increased cocaine self-administration. Total cocaine intake was 2- to 3-fold greater in rats assigned to the social versus non-social condition across a 100-fold dose range. Cocaine intake rapidly increased when rats in the original non-social group were later provided with social partners, whereas cocaine intake resisted change and remained elevated when rats in the original social group had their partners removed. These data indicate that contingent access to a social partner increases drug intake and suggest that social reinforcement may represent a vulnerability factor that is particularly resistant to psychosocial interventions. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-10-29 /pmc/articles/PMC8588844/ /pubmed/34776897 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2021.771114 Text en Copyright © 2021 Smith, Cha, Griffith and Sharp. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Neuroscience
Smith, Mark A.
Cha, Hannah S.
Griffith, Annie K.
Sharp, Jessica L.
Social Contact Reinforces Cocaine Self-Administration in Young Adult Male Rats: The Role of Social Reinforcement in Vulnerability to Drug Use
title Social Contact Reinforces Cocaine Self-Administration in Young Adult Male Rats: The Role of Social Reinforcement in Vulnerability to Drug Use
title_full Social Contact Reinforces Cocaine Self-Administration in Young Adult Male Rats: The Role of Social Reinforcement in Vulnerability to Drug Use
title_fullStr Social Contact Reinforces Cocaine Self-Administration in Young Adult Male Rats: The Role of Social Reinforcement in Vulnerability to Drug Use
title_full_unstemmed Social Contact Reinforces Cocaine Self-Administration in Young Adult Male Rats: The Role of Social Reinforcement in Vulnerability to Drug Use
title_short Social Contact Reinforces Cocaine Self-Administration in Young Adult Male Rats: The Role of Social Reinforcement in Vulnerability to Drug Use
title_sort social contact reinforces cocaine self-administration in young adult male rats: the role of social reinforcement in vulnerability to drug use
topic Neuroscience
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8588844/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34776897
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2021.771114
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