Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY, USA.
Addiction Biology Unit, Molecular Targets and Medications Discovery Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Intramural Research Program, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Neuropharmacology. 2024 Jul 1;252:109947. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2024.109947. Epub 2024 Apr 16.
A growing body of research indicates that β-caryophyllene (BCP), a constituent present in a large number of plants, possesses significant therapeutic properties against CNS disorders, including alcohol and psychostimulant use disorders. However, it is unknown whether BCP has similar therapeutic potential for opioid use disorders. In this study, we found that systemic administration of BCP dose-dependently reduced heroin self-administration in rats under an FR2 schedule of reinforcement and partially blocked heroin-enhanced brain stimulation reward in DAT-cre mice, maintained by optical stimulation of midbrain dopamine neurons at high frequencies. Acute administration of BCP failed to block heroin conditioned place preference (CPP) in male mice, but attenuated heroin-induced CPP in females. Furthermore, repeated dosing with BCP for 5 days facilitated the extinction of CPP in female but not male mice. In the hot plate assay, pretreatment with the same doses of BCP failed to enhance or prolong opioid antinociception. Lastly, in a substitution test, BCP replacement for heroin failed to maintain intravenous BCP self-administration, suggesting that BCP itself has no reinforcing properties. These findings suggest that BCP may have certain therapeutic effects against opioid use disorders with fewer unwanted side-effects by itself.
越来越多的研究表明,β-石竹烯(BCP)是一种存在于大量植物中的成分,具有治疗中枢神经系统疾病的显著特性,包括酒精和精神兴奋剂使用障碍。然而,尚不清楚 BCP 是否对阿片类药物使用障碍具有类似的治疗潜力。在这项研究中,我们发现系统给予 BCP 剂量依赖性地减少了 FR2 强化方案下大鼠的海洛因自我给药,并且部分阻断了在中脑多巴胺神经元高频光刺激下维持的 DAT-cre 小鼠中海洛因增强的脑刺激奖励。急性给予 BCP 未能阻断雄性小鼠中海洛因条件性位置偏爱(CPP),但减弱了雌性小鼠中海洛因诱导的 CPP。此外,重复给予 BCP 5 天可促进雌性而不是雄性小鼠 CPP 的消退。在热板试验中,相同剂量的 BCP 预处理未能增强或延长阿片类药物的镇痛作用。最后,在替代试验中,BCP 替代海洛因未能维持静脉 BCP 自我给药,表明 BCP 本身没有强化作用。这些发现表明,BCP 可能具有治疗阿片类药物使用障碍的某些疗效,且本身的副作用较少。