Naltrexone attenuates methamphetamine-induced behavioral sensitization and conditioned place preference in mice.

Naltrexone attenuates methamphetamine-induced behavioral sensitization and conditioned place preference in mice. Behav Brain Res. 2020 Oct 16;:112971 Authors: Wang ZY, Guo LK, Han X, Song R, Dong GM, Ma CM, Wu N, Li J Abstract Methamphetamine addiction causes serious public health problems worldwide. However, there is no effective medication licensed for methamphetamine addiction. The endogenous opioid system is considered to be a common substrate in drug addiction due to its regulation of dopamine release. In recent clinical trials, (-)-naltrexone, an opioid receptors and Toll-like receptor 4 antagonist, has exhibited encouraging findings for treating methamphetamine addiction; however, the understanding of its pharmacological mechanisms remains insufficient. By using mice models of behavioral sensitization and conditioned place preference (CPP), the present study was performed to investigate the effects of naltrexone on the methamphetamine-associated properties of incentive salience and reward-related memory, the two crucial factors for the development of addictive process and relapse. We found that naltrexone reduced single methamphetamine-induced hyperlocomotion in mice. In the paradigm of methamphetamine-induced behavioral sensitization paired with contextual cues in mice, naltrexone suppressed the development and expression of locomotor sensitization, suggesting the decrease in incentive salience to methamphetamine and context....
Source: Behavioural Brain Research - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Behav Brain Res Source Type: research