Research Publications

Kawa, A. B., Hashimoto, J. G., Beutler, M. M., Guizzetti, M., & Wolf, M. E. (2025). Changes in nucleus accumbens core translatome accompanying incubation of cocaine craving. Neuropsychopharmacology, 50(8), 1305–1316. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-025-02112-4

  • In the ‘incubation of cocaine craving’ model of relapse, rats exhibit progressive intensification (incubation) of cue-induced craving over several weeks of forced abstinence from cocaine self-administration. The expression of incubated craving depends on plasticity of excitatory synaptic transmission in nucleus accumbens core (NAcC) medium spiny neurons (MSN). Previously, we found that the maintenance of this plasticity and the expression of incubation depends on ongoing protein translation, and the regulation of translation is altered after incubation of cocaine craving. Here we used male and female rats that express Cre recombinase in either dopamine D1 receptor- or adenosine 2a (A2a) receptor-expressing MSN to express a GFP-tagged ribosomal subunit in a cell-type specific manner, enabling us to use Translating Ribosome Affinity Purification (TRAP) to isolate actively translating mRNAs from both MSN subtypes for analysis by RNA-seq. We compared rats that self-administered saline or cocaine. Saline rats were assessed on abstinence day (AD) 1, while cocaine rats were assessed on AD1 or AD40-50. For both D1-MSN and A2a-MSN, there were few differentially translated genes between saline and cocaine AD1 groups. In contrast, pronounced differences in the translatome were observed between cocaine rats on AD1 and AD40-50, and this was far more robust in D1-MSN. Notably, all comparisons revealed sex differences in translating mRNAs. Sequencing results were validated by qRT-PCR for several genes of interest. This study, the first to combine TRAP-seq, transgenic rats, and a cocaine self-administration paradigm, identifies translating mRNAs linked to incubation of cocaine craving in D1-MSN and A2a-MSN of the NAcC.

Weber, S. J., Kawa, A. B., Beutler, M. M., Kuhn, H. M., Moutier, A. L., Westlake, J. G., Koyshman, L. M., Moreno, C. D., Wunsch, A. M., & Wolf, M. E. (2024). Dopamine transmission at D1 and D2 receptors in the nucleus accumbens contributes to the expression of incubation of cocaine craving. Neuropsychopharmacology, 50(2), 461–471. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-024-01992-2

  • Relapse represents a consistent clinical problem for individuals with substance use disorder. In the incubation of craving model of persistent craving and relapse, cue-induced drug seeking progressively intensifies or “incubates” during the first weeks of abstinence from drug self-administration and then remains high for months. Previously, we and others have demonstrated that expression of incubated cocaine craving requires strengthening of excitatory synaptic transmission in the nucleus accumbens core (NAcc). However, despite the importance of dopaminergic signaling in the NAcc for motivated behavior, little is known about the role that dopamine (DA) plays in the incubation of cocaine craving. Here we used fiber photometry to measure DA transients in the NAcc of male and female rats during cue-induced seeking tests conducted in early abstinence from cocaine self-administration, prior to incubation, and late abstinence, after incubation of craving has plateaued. We observed DA transients time-locked to cue-induced responding but their magnitude did not differ significantly when measured during early versus late abstinence seeking tests. Next, we tested for a functional role of these DA transients by injecting DA receptor antagonists into the NAcc just before the cue-induced seeking test. Blockade of either D1 or D2 DA receptors reduced cue-induced cocaine seeking after but not before incubation. We found no main effect of sex or significant interaction of sex with other factors in our experiments. These results suggest that DA contributes to incubated cocaine seeking but the emergence of this role reflects changes in postsynaptic responsiveness to DA rather than presynaptic alterations.

Saraswat, A. A., Longyear, L. G., Kawa, A. B., & Ferrario, C. R. (2023). Cocaine-induced plasticity, motivation, and cue responsivity do not differ in obesity-prone vs obesity-resistant rats: Implications for food addiction. Psychopharmacology, 240(4), 853–870. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-023-06327-5

  • Rationale: Compared to obesity-resistant rats, obesity-prone rats consume more food, work harder to obtain food, show greater motivational responses to food-cues, and show greater striatal plasticity in response to eating sugary/fatty foods. Therefore, it is possible that obesity-prone rats may also be more sensitive to the motivational properties of cocaine and cocaine-paired cues, and to plasticity induced by cocaine.

    Objective : To examine baseline differences in motivation for cocaine and effects of intermittent access (IntA) cocaine selfadministration on cocaine motivation, neurobehavioral responsivity to cocaine-paired cues, and locomotor sensitization in male obesity-prone vs obesity-resistant rats.

    Methods: Intravenous cocaine self-administration was used to examine drug-taking and drug-seeking in males. Motivation for cocaine was measured using a within session threshold procedure. Cue-induced c-Fos expression in mesocorticolimbic regions was measured.

    Results: Drug-taking and drug-seeking, cue-induced c-Fos, locomotor sensitization, and preferred level of cocaine consumption (Q0) were similar between obesity-prone and obesity-resistant groups. Maximal responding during demand testing (Rmax) was lower in obesity-prone rats. IntA experience enhanced motivation for cocaine (Pmax) in obesity-prone rats.

    Conclusions: The results do not support robust inherent differences in motivation for cocaine, cue-induced cocaine seeking, or neurobehavioral plasticity induced by IntA in obesity-prone vs obesity-resistant rats. This contrasts with previously established differences seen for food and food cues in these populations and shows that inherent enhancements in motivation for food and food-paired cues do not necessarily transfer to drugs and drug-paired cues.

Kawa, A. B., Hwang, E. K., Funke, J. R., Zhou, H., Costa-Mattioli, M., & Wolf, M. E. (2022). Positive allosteric modulation of mGlu1 reverses cocaine-induced behavioral and synaptic plasticity through the integrated stress response and Oligophrenin-1. Biological Psychiatry, 92(11), 871–879. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2022.05.008

  • Background: Cue-induced cocaine craving progressively intensifies (incubates) during abstinence from cocaine self-administration. Expression of incubated cocaine craving depends on elevated calcium-permeable AMPA receptors (CP-AMPARs) on medium spiny neurons in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) core. After incubation has occurred, stimulation of NAc metabotropic glutamate 1 (mGlu1) receptors or systemic administration of mGlu1 positive allosteric modulators removes CP-AMPARs from NAc synapses via dynamin-dependent internalization (mGlu1 long-term depression [LTD]) and thereby reduces incubated cocaine craving. Because mGlu1 positive allosteric modulators are potential therapeutics for cocaine craving, it is important to further define the mechanism triggering this mGlu1-LTD.

    Methods: Male and female rats self-administered saline or cocaine (10 days) using a long access regimen (6 h/day). Following ≥40 days of abstinence, we assessed the ability of an mGlu1 positive allosteric modulator to inhibit expression of incubated craving and remove CP-AMPARs from NAc synapses under control conditions, after blocking the integrated stress response (ISR), or after knocking down oligophrenin-1, a mediator of the ISR that can promote AMPAR endocytosis. AMPAR transmission in NAc medium spiny neurons was assessed with ex vivo slice recordings.

    Results: mGlu1 stimulation reduced cue-induced craving and removed synaptic CP-AMPARs. When the ISR was blocked prior to mGlu1 stimulation, there was no reduction in cue-induced craving, nor were CP-AMPARs removed from the synapse. Further, selective knockdown of oligophrenin-1 blocked mGlu1-LTD.

    Conclusions: Our results indicate that mGlu1-LTD in the NAc and consequently the reduction of cue-induced seeking occur through activation of the ISR, which induces translation of oligophrenin-1. We also demonstrate CP-AMPAR accumulation and mGlu1 reversal in female rats, as previously shown in male rats.

Murray, C. H., Gaulden, A. D., Kawa, A. B., Milovanovic, M., Caccamise, A. J., Funke, J. R., Patel, S., & Wolf, M. E. (2021). CaMKII modulates diacylglycerol lipase-α activity in the rat nucleus accumbens after incubation of cocaine craving. eNeuro, 8(5), ENEURO.0220-21.2021. https://doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0220-21.2021

  • Relapse is a major challenge to the treatment of substance use disorders. A progressive increase in cue-induced drug craving, termed incubation of craving, is observed after withdrawal from multiple drugs of abuse in humans and rodents. Incubation of cocaine craving involves the strengthening of excitatory synapses onto nucleus accumbens (NAc) medium spiny neurons via postsynaptic accumulation of high-conductance Ca2+-permeable AMPA receptors. This enhances reactivity to drug-associated cues and is required for the expression of incubation. Additionally, incubation of cocaine craving is associated with loss of the synaptic depression normally triggered by stimulation of metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 (mGlu5), leading to endocannabinoid production, and expressed presynaptically via cannabinoid receptor 1 activation. Previous studies have found alterations in mGlu5 and Homer proteins associated with the loss of this synaptic depression. Here we conducted coimmunoprecipitation studies to investigate associations of diacylglycerol lipase-α (DGL), which catalyzes formation of the endocannabinoid 2-arachidonylglycerol (2-AG), with mGlu5 and Homer proteins. Although these interactions were unchanged in the NAc core at incubation-relevant withdrawal times, the association of DGL with total and phosphorylated Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase IIα (CaMKIIα) and CaMKIIβ was increased. This would be predicted, based on other studies, to inhibit DGL activity and therefore 2-AG production. This was confirmed by measuring DGL enzymatic activity. However, the magnitude of DGL inhibition did not correlate with the magnitude of incubation of craving for individual rats. These results suggest that CaMKII contributes to the loss of mGlu5-dependent synaptic depression after incubation, but the functional significance of this loss remains unclear.

Kawa, A. B., Valenta, A. C., Kennedy, R. T., & Robinson, T. E. (2019). Incentive and dopamine sensitization produced by intermittent but not long access cocaine self-administration. European Journal of Neuroscience, 50(4), 2663–2682. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.14418

  • The temporal pattern of drug use (pharmacokinetics) has a profound effect on the ability of self-administered cocaine to produce addiction-like behavior in rodents, and to change the brain. To further address this issue, we compared the effects of long access (LgA) cocaine self-administration, which is widely used to model the transition to addiction, with intermittent access (IntA), which is thought to better reflect the pattern of drug use in humans, on the ability of a single, self-administered injection of cocaine to increase dopamine (DA) overflow in the core of the nucleus accumbens (using in vivo microdialysis), and to produce addiction-like behavior. IntA experience was more effective than LgA in producing addiction-like behavior-a drug experience-dependent increase in motivation for cocaine assessed using behavioral economic procedures, and cue-induced reinstatement-despite much less total drug consumption. There were no group differences in basal levels of DA in dialysate [DA], but a single self-administered IV injection of cocaine increased [DA] in the core of the nucleus accumbens to a greater extent in rats with prior IntA experience than those with LgA or limited access experience, and the latter two groups did not differ. Furthermore, high motivation for cocaine was associated with a high [DA] response. Thus, IntA, but not LgA, produced both incentive and DA sensitization. This is consistent with the notion that a hyper-responsive dopaminergic system may contribute to the transition from casual patterns of drug use to the problematic patterns that define addiction.

Kawa, A. B., Allain, F., Robinson, T. E., & Samaha, A. N. (2019). The transition to cocaine addiction: The importance of pharmacokinetics for preclinical models. Psychopharmacology, 236(4), 1145–1157. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-019-5164-0

  • A key question in addiction research concerns how, in some individuals, initial recreational or casual patterns of drug use may change brain and psychological function in ways that promote a transition to the problematic patterns of use that define substance use disorders (addiction). In preclinical studies, this is modeled using self-administration procedures. However, most cocaine self-administration procedures produce continuously high brain concentrations of drug, whereas in people, bouts of use are thought to be more intermittent. Here, we ask whether such temporal pharmacokinetic factors matter, by comparing and contrasting the neuropsychological consequences of intermittent vs. long access cocaine self-administration experience. It turns out, the temporal pattern of cocaine use has profound effects on a number of outcomes. First, despite much less total drug consumption, intermittent access to cocaine is more effective in producing addiction-like behavior. Second, intermittent and long access cocaine self-administration change the brain in very different ways to influence motivated behavior. We argue that intermittent access self-administration procedures might be better suited than traditional self-administration procedures for isolating drug-induced changes in neuropsychological function that contribute to the transition to cocaine addiction.

Kawa, A. B., & Robinson, T. E. (2019). Sex differences in incentive-sensitization produced by intermittent access cocaine self-administration. Psychopharmacology, 236(2), 625–639. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-018-5091-5

  • Rationale: Intermittent Access (IntA) cocaine self-administration, which models intermittent patterns of cocaine use in humans during the transition to addiction, is especially effective in producing incentive-sensitization and other addiction-like behavior in male rats. However, female rats show more robust psychomotor sensitization than males, and following initial use, women develop problematic patterns of drug use more readily than men. We hypothesized, therefore, that female rats might be more susceptible to the incentive-sensitization produced by IntA experience.

    Objective: To assess changes in motivation for cocaine, using a behavioral economic indicator of cocaine demand ("elasticity" of demand curves), and other addiction-like behavior, as a function of IntA cocaine self-administration experience in male and female rats.

    Results: IntA experience produced a progressive increase in motivation for cocaine in both males and females, as indicated by a decrease in the elasticity of cocaine demand curves, and this persisted undiminished following 14 days of abstinence. However, IntA produced a more rapid and greater increase in motivation for cocaine (incentive-sensitization) in females than males. Females also consumed more cocaine than males, although this did not predict changes in motivation. On the other hand, there were no sex differences in the preferred level of cocaine consumption when cost was low (Q0), nor in cocaine- or cue-induced reinstatement of drug-seeking behavior.

    Conclusions: The observation that females are more susceptible to incentive-sensitization when intermittently exposed to cocaine may provide a mechanism for the more rapid development of problematic drug use in females ("telescoping effect") reported in clinical studies.

Singer, B. F., Fadanelli, M., Kawa, A. B., & Robinson, T. E. (2018). Are cocaine-seeking “habits” necessary for the development of addiction-like behavior in rats? Journal of Neuroscience, 38(1), 60–73. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2458-17.2017

  • Drug self-administration models of addiction typically require animals to make the same response (e.g., a lever-press or nose-poke) over and over to procure and take drugs. By their design, such procedures often produce behavior controlled by stimulus-response (S-R) habits. This has supported the notion of addiction as a "drug habit," and has led to considerable advances in our understanding of the neurobiological basis of such behavior. However, to procure such drugs as cocaine, addicts often require considerable ingenuity and flexibility in seeking behavior, which, by definition, precludes the development of habits. To better model drug-seeking behavior in addicts, we first developed a novel cocaine self-administration procedure [puzzle self-administration procedure (PSAP)] that required rats to solve a new puzzle every day to gain access to cocaine, which they then self-administered on an intermittent access (IntA) schedule. Such daily problem-solving precluded the development of S-R seeking habits. We then asked whether prolonged PSAP/IntA experience would nevertheless produce "symptoms of addiction." It did, including escalation of intake, sensitized motivation for drug, continued drug use in the face of adverse consequences, and very robust cue-induced reinstatement of drug seeking, especially in a subset of "addiction-prone" rats. Furthermore, drug-seeking behavior continued to require dopamine neurotransmission in the core of the nucleus accumbens (but not the dorsolateral striatum). We conclude that the development of S-R seeking habits is not necessary for the development of cocaine addiction-like behavior in rats.

    SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Substance-use disorders are often characterized as "habitual" behaviors aimed at obtaining and administering drugs. Although the actions involved in consuming drugs may involve a rigid repertoire of habitual behaviors, evidence suggests that addicts must be very creative and flexible when trying to procure drugs, and thus drug seeking cannot be governed by habit alone. We modeled flexible drug-seeking behavior in rats by requiring animals to solve daily puzzles to gain access to cocaine. We find that habitual drug-seeking isn't necessary for the development of addiction-like behavior, and that our procedure doesn't result in transfer of dopaminergic control from the ventral to dorsal striatum. This approach may prove useful in studying changes in neuropsychological function that promote the transition to addiction.

Kawa, A. B., Bentzley, B. S., & Robinson, T. E. (2016). Less is more: Prolonged intermittent access cocaine self-administration produces incentive-sensitization and addiction-like behavior. Psychopharmacology, 233(19–20), 3587–3602. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-016-4393-8

  • Rationale: Contemporary animal models of cocaine addiction focus on increasing the amount of drug consumption to produce addiction-like behavior. However, another critical factor is the temporal pattern of consumption, which in humans is characterized by intermittency, both within and between bouts of use.

    Objective: To model this we combined prolonged access to cocaine (~70 days in total) with an intermittent access self-administration procedure (IntA), and used behavioral-economic indicators to quantify changes in motivation for cocaine.

    Results: IntA produced escalation of intake, a progressive increase in cocaine demand (incentive-sensitization), and robust drug- and cue-induced reinstatement of drug-seeking behavior. We also asked whether rats that vary in their propensity to attribute incentive salience to reward cues (sign-trackers, STs vs. goal-trackers, GTs) vary in the development of addiction-like behavior. Although STs were more motivated to take cocaine after limited drug experience, after IntA, STs and GTs no longer differed on any measure of addiction-like behavior.

    Conclusions: Exposure to large quantities of cocaine is not necessary for escalation of intake, incentive-sensitization or other addiction-like behaviors (IntA results in far less total cocaine consumption than ‘long access’ procedures). Also, the ST phenotype may increase susceptibility to addiction, not because STs are inherently susceptible to incentive-sensitization (perhaps all individuals are at risk), but because this phenotype promotes continued drug use, subjecting them to incentive-sensitization. Thus, the pharmacokinetics associated with the IntA procedure is especially effective in producing a number of addiction-like behaviors, may be valuable for studying associated neuroadaptations, and for assessing individual variation in vulnerability.

Calu, D. J., Chen, Y. W., Kawa, A. B., Nair, S. G., & Shaham, Y. (2014). The use of the reinstatement model to study relapse to palatable food seeking during dieting. Neuropharmacology, 76(Pt B), 395–406. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropharm.2013.04.030

  • Excessive consumption of unhealthy foods is a major public health problem. While many people attempt to control their food intake through dieting, many relapse to unhealthy eating habits within a few months. We have begun to study this clinical condition in rats by adapting the reinstatement model, which has been used extensively to study relapse to drug seeking. In our adaptation of the relapse model, reinstatement of palatable food seeking by exposure to food-pellet priming, food-associated cues, or stress is assessed in food-restricted (to mimic dieting) rats after operant food-pellet self-administration training and subsequent extinction of the food-reinforced responding. In this review, we first outline the clinical problem and discuss a recent study in which we assessed the predictive validity of the reinstatement model for studying relapse to food seeking during dieting by using the anorexigenic drug fenfluramine. Next, we summarize results from our initial studies on the role of several stress- and feeding-related peptides (corticotropin-releasing factor, hypocretin, melanin-concentrating hormone, peptide YY3-36) in reinstatement of palatable food seeking. We then present results from our studies on the role of dopamine and medial prefrontal cortex in stress-induced reinstatement of food seeking. We conclude by discussing potential clinical implications. We offer two main conclusions: (1) the food reinstatement model is a simple, reliable, and valid model to study mechanisms of relapse to palatable food seeking during dieting, and to identify medications to prevent this relapse; (2) mechanisms of relapse to food seeking are often dissociable from mechanisms of ongoing food intake. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled 'NIDA 40th Anniversary Issue'.

Calu, D. J., Kawa, A. B., Marchant, N. J., Navarre, B. M., Henderson, M. J., Chen, B., Yau, H. J., Bossert, J. M., Schoenbaum, G., Deisseroth, K., Harvey, B. K., Hope, B. T., & Shaham, Y. (2013). Optogenetic inhibition of dorsal medial prefrontal cortex attenuates stress-induced reinstatement of palatable food seeking in female rats. Journal of Neuroscience, 33(1), 214–226. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2016-12.2013

  • Relapse to maladaptive eating habits during dieting is often provoked by stress. Recently, we identified a role of dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) neurons in stress-induced reinstatement of palatable food seeking in male rats. It is unknown whether endogenous neural activity in dorsal mPFC drives stress-induced reinstatement in female rats. Here, we used an optogenetic approach, in which female rats received bilateral dorsal mPFC microinjections of viral constructs coding light-sensitive eNpHR3.0-eYFP or control eYFP protein and intracranial fiber optic implants. Rats were food restricted and trained to lever press for palatable food pellets. Subsequently, pellets were removed, and lever pressing was extinguished; then the effect of bilateral dorsal mPFC light delivery on reinstatement of food seeking was assessed after injections of the pharmacological stressor yohimbine (an α-2 andrenoceptor antagonist) or pellet priming, a manipulation known to provoke food seeking in hungry rats. Dorsal mPFC light delivery attenuated yohimbine-induced reinstatement of food seeking in eNpHR3.0-injected but not eYFP-injected rats. This optical manipulation had no effect on pellet-priming-induced reinstatement or ongoing food-reinforced responding. Dorsal mPFC light delivery attenuated yohimbine-induced Fos immunoreactivity and disrupted neural activity during in vivo electrophysiological recording in awake rats. Optical stimulation caused significant outward currents and blocked electrically evoked action potentials in eNpHR3.0-injected but not eYFP-injected mPFC hemispheres. Light delivery alone caused no significant inflammatory response in mPFC. These findings indicate that intracranial light delivery in eNpHR3.0 rats disrupts endogenous dorsal mPFC neural activity that plays a role in stress-induced relapse to food seeking in female rats.

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