Lacy Ryan T, Strickland Justin C, Smith Mark A
Department of Psychology, Davidson College, USA.
Department of Psychology, Davidson College, USA; Program in Neuroscience, Davidson College, USA.
J Neurosci Methods. 2014 Oct 30;236:11-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2014.07.024. Epub 2014 Aug 7.
Traditionally, the analysis of intravenous drug self-administration is limited to conditions in which subjects are tested in isolation. This limits the translational appeal of these studies because drug use in humans often occurs in the presence of others.
We used custom-built operant conditioning chambers that allowed social dyads visual, olfactory, auditory, and limited tactile contact while concurrently self-administering cocaine. Male rats were trained to respond according to a fixed interval schedule of reinforcement (with a limited hold) in order to determine if patterns of cocaine (0.75mg/kg/infusion) self-administration became more similar over time in social pairs. Cocaine self-administration was tested across five days according to a 10-min fixed interval schedule (with a 5-min limited hold). Quarter-life values (time at which 25% of responses were emitted per interval) were analyzed using intraclass correlations.
The total number of reinforcers obtained did not vary across the five days of testing; however, quarter-life values became progressively more similar between individuals within the social dyads.
Standard operant conditioning chambers are unable to assess responding in multiple animals due to their small size, the need to prevent subjects from responding on the lever of their partner, and the need to prevent infusion lines from entangling. By using custom-built social operant conditioning chambers, we assessed the effects of social contact on cocaine self-administration.
Social operant conditioning chambers can be used as a preclinical method to examine social influences on drug self-administration under conditions that approximate human substance use.
传统上，静脉注射药物自我给药的分析仅限于在隔离条件下对受试者进行测试。这限制了这些研究的转化吸引力，因为人类的药物使用通常是在他人在场的情况下发生的。
我们使用了定制的操作性条件反射箱，该箱子允许社会二元组在同时自我注射可卡因时进行视觉、嗅觉、听觉和有限的触觉接触。雄性大鼠接受训练，根据固定间隔强化时间表（有有限的保持时间）做出反应，以确定可卡因（0.75毫克/千克/注射）自我给药模式在社会配对中随着时间的推移是否变得更加相似。根据10分钟的固定间隔时间表（有5分钟的有限保持时间），在五天内测试可卡因自我给药情况。使用组内相关性分析四分位值（每个间隔发出25%反应的时间）。
在五天的测试中获得的强化物总数没有变化；然而，社会二元组内个体之间的四分位值逐渐变得更加相似。
标准的操作性条件反射箱由于其尺寸小、需要防止受试者在其伙伴的杠杆上做出反应以及需要防止输液管缠绕，无法评估多只动物的反应。通过使用定制的社会操作性条件反射箱，我们评估了社会接触对可卡因自我给药的影响。
社会操作性条件反射箱可以作为一种临床前方法，在接近人类物质使用的条件下检查社会对药物自我给药的影响。
