News Main

Mu Opioid Receptor Activation Mediates (S)-ketamine Reinforcement in Rats: Implications for Abuse Liability

Featured Paper of the Month – June 2023
Published in Biological Psychiatry by Marjorie Levinstein and Michael Michaelides, et al. of the NIDA IRP Biobehavioral Imaging and Molecular Neuropsychopharmacology Unit.

In this study, we show that S-ketamine not only binds to and activates MOR, but that this interaction is critical for its abuse liability. Specifically, we show that the opioid receptor antagonist naltrexone blocks brain activation by (S)-ketamine in the nucleus accumbens, a region crucial for reward, and also decreases lever pressing for (S)-ketamine in rats.

2023 Outstanding Poster Awards

Congratulations to our 2023 Outstanding Poster Award winners! They were honored at the 11th annual NIDA Poster Day and Mentoring Awards ceremony on May 11, 2023. Back row, left to right: Sarah Claypool, Qingfang Liu, Samanth Lee, Michelle Tsai, Ana Armenta Vega, Kelsey Shimoda, Noelle Henein, Laura Grasso, and Kareem Woods. Front row, left to right:… [Read More]

2023 NIDA IRP Mentoring Awards

Congratulations to our 2023 Mentoring Award winners! They were honored at the 11th annual NIDA Poster Day and Mentoring Awards ceremony on May 11, 2023. From left to right: Gisela Camacho Hernandez, Ph.D. – Postdoctoral Mentoring Award; Yosuke Arima, Ph.D. – Postdoctoral Fellow Mentoring Award; Mehdi Farokhnia, M.D., M.P.H. – Staff Scientist Mentoring Award; and David… [Read More]

2023 NIDA IRP Postbaccalaureate Graduates

Congratulations and best wishes to the 2023 NIDA IRP Postbaccalaureate graduates!

AI-based analysis of social media language predicts addiction treatment dropout at 90 days

Hot Off the Press – May 23, 2023 Published in Neuropsychopharmacology by Brenda Curtis and Salvatore Giorgi of the NIDA IRP Technology and Translational Research Unit in collaboration with other researchers. Summary Assessing an individual’s risk of substance use treatment dropout traditionally involves comprehensive, structured interviews which are time consuming and costly to administer. More… [Read More]

Role of Piriform Cortex and Its Afferent Projections in Relapse to Fentanyl Seeking after Food Choice-Induced Voluntary Abstinence

Hot Off the Press – May 18, 2023 Summary NIDA researchers previously showed a role of Pir in fentanyl relapse after food choice-induced voluntary abstinence in rats, a procedure mimicking human abstinence or a significant reduction in drug self-administration because of the availability of alternative nondrug rewards. Here, they aimed to further characterize the role… [Read More]

Dopaminergic prediction errors in the ventral tegmental area reflect a multithreaded predictive model

Hot Off the Press – May 5, 2023 Published in Nature Neuroscience by Yuji Takahashi, Thomas Stalnaker, Lauren Mueller, and Geoffrey Schoenbaum of the NIDA IRP Behavioral Neurophysiology Neuroscience Section. Summary Dopamine neurons signal reward prediction errors – critical teaching signals that are broadcast throughout the brain to undergird associative learning. Current models applied to… [Read More]

Erika Carlson – Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics Highlighted Trainee Author

Erika Carlson is the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (JPET) Highlighted Trainee Author for May 2023. Erika was recognized for her contributions to the article titled “Heroin- and Fentanyl-Induced Respiratory Depression in a Rat Plethysmography Model: Potency, Tolerance, and Sex Differences,” which was published in the May 2023 issue of JPET. Erika co-authored this article… [Read More]

Technology Development Initiative – Paper of the Month – May 2023

Customizable, wireless and implantable neural probe design and fabrication via 3D printing. Nature Protocols.

Detailed in this protocol are custom manufacturing techniques for rapidly 3D-printing large number of optogenetic probes of any length and number of shanks. Also included are instructions for low-cost, custom, wireless harnesses to couple with probes for offsite optical manipulation. [Read More]

Persistent binding at dopamine transporters determines sustained psychostimulant effects

Featured Paper of the Month – May 2023
Published in PNAS with contributions from Carl Lupica, Alexander Hoffman, and Michael Baumann of the NIDA IRP.

Here we demonstrate that various DAT inhibitors can be distinguished based on their in vitro binding kinetics, whereby the dissociation rate (i.e., Koff) of a drug from DAT in vitro predicts the duration of its stimulant effects in vivo.