- Browse by Author
Browsing by Author "McCane, Aqilah M."
Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
Results Per Page
Sort Options
Item Correction: Maternal deprivation induces alterations in cognitive and cortical function in adulthood(Springer Nature, 2018-07-31) Janetsian-Fritz, Sarine S.; Timme, Nicholas M.; Timm, Maureen M.; McCane, Aqilah M.; Baucum, Anthony J.; O'Donnell, Brian F.; Lapish, Christopher C.; Psychology, School of ScienceThe original version of this Article omitted the author Maureen M. Timm from the Department of Psychology, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN, USA.Item Differential COMT expression and behavioral effects of COMT inhibition in male and female Wistar and alcohol preferring rats(Elsevier, 2017) McCane, Aqilah M.; DeLory, Michael J.; Timm, Maureen M.; Janetsian-Fritz, Sarine S.; Lapish, Christopher C.; Czachowski, Cristine L.; Department of Psychology, School of SciencePolymorphisms of the catechol-O-methyl transferase (COMT) gene have been associated with alcoholism, suggesting that alterations in the metabolism of catecholamines may be a critical component of the neuropathology of alcoholism. In the current experiments, the COMT inhibitor tolcapone was utilized in an operant behavioral model of reinforcer-seeking and drinking to determine if this compound was capable of remediating the excessive seeking and drinking phenotype of the alcohol-preferring P rat. Tolcapone was administered to male and female alcohol-reinforced P and Wistar rats. Additionally, tolcapone was administered to male sucrose-reinforced P and Wistar rats to determine if its effects also extended to a natural reinforcer. Animals were trained to make an operant response that resulted in 20 min uninterrupted access to the reinforcer solutions. Tolcapone had no effect in female rats on either seeking or consumption of ethanol. However, reductions of both reinforcer seeking and consumption were observed in male P rats, but only of seeking in Wistars. In separate experiments, using reinforcer naïve male and female animals, COMT expression was assessed via Western Blot analysis. Sex differences in COMT expression were also observed, where male P rats exhibited a marked reduction in protein expression relative to females in the PFC. Sex differences were not observed for Wistars or in the striatum and hippocampus. These data complement our previous findings in which tolcapone reduced cue-evoked responses in P rats and further suggest clinical utility of COMT inhibitors in the treatment of addiction disorders, specifically in male high drinkers.Item Differential effects of quinine adulteration of alcohol on seeking and drinking(Elsevier, 2021) McCane, Aqilah M.; Auterson, Curtis D.; DeLory, Michael J.; Lapish, Christopher C.; Czachowski, Cristine L.; Psychology, School of ScienceAlcohol dependence is characterized by compulsive alcohol use. Alcohol-paired stimuli can drive compulsive alcohol use, induce craving, and lead to relapse. Alcohol dependence is highly heritable and individuals with a family history are at elevated risk to develop an alcohol use disorder. Understanding the association between genetic vulnerability to alcohol dependence and neural alterations which promote an addiction phenotype are critical to the prevention and treatment of alcohol dependence. Here we use selectively bred alcohol-preferring P rats and their progenitor strain, Wistar rats, to investigate the relationship between genetic liability and alcohol-seeking and drinking behaviors in a discriminative stimuli paradigm. To further investigate strain differences in motivated responding, alcohol was adulterated with quinine and intake and responding were assessed. While both strains learn to discriminate between stimuli which predict alcohol availability, P rats learn faster and consume more alcohol. Quinine adulteration reduced ethanol intake in both strains with no effect on ethanol seeking measures. These data suggest genetic vulnerability to alcohol dependence is associated with increased motivated behaviors and highlight the utility of P rats in teasing apart the neural mechanisms associated with this phenotype. Additionally, these data suggest a dissociation between the neural systems which engage ethanol drinking versus compulsive ethanol seeking.Item Maternal deprivation induces alterations in cognitive and cortical function in adulthood(Nature Publishing Group, 2018-03-27) Janetsian-Fritz, Sarine S.; Timme, Nicholas M.; Timm, Maureen M.; McCane, Aqilah M.; Baucum, Anthony J., II; O’ Donnell, Brian F.; Lapish, Christopher C.; Psychology, School of ScienceEarly life trauma is a risk factor for a number of neuropsychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia (SZ). The current study assessed how an early life traumatic event, maternal deprivation (MD), alters cognition and brain function in rodents. Rats were maternally deprived in the early postnatal period and then recognition memory (RM) was tested in adulthood using the novel object recognition task. The expression of catechol-o-methyl transferase (COMT) and glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD67) were quantified in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), ventral striatum, and temporal cortex (TC). In addition, depth EEG recordings were obtained from the mPFC, vertex, and TC during a paired-click paradigm to assess the effects of MD on sensory gating. MD animals exhibited impaired RM, lower expression of COMT in the mPFC and TC, and lower expression of GAD67 in the TC. Increased bioelectric noise was observed at each recording site of MD animals. MD animals also exhibited altered information theoretic measures of stimulus encoding. These data indicate that a neurodevelopmental perturbation yields persistent alterations in cognition and brain function, and are consistent with human studies that identified relationships between allelic differences in COMT and GAD67 and bioelectric noise. These changes evoked by MD also lead to alterations in shared information between cognitive and primary sensory processing areas, which provides insight into how early life trauma confers a risk for neurodevelopmental disorders, such as SZ, later in life.Item Methamphetamine-induced deficits in social interaction are not observed following abstinence from single or repeated exposures(Wolters Kluwer, 2015-12) Janetsian, Sarine S.; McCane, Aqilah M.; Linsenbardt, David N.; Lapish, Christopher C.; Department of Psychology, School of ScienceThe purpose of the current study was to assess social interaction (SI) following acute and repeated methamphetamine (MA) administration. Rats were injected with 5.0 mg/kg of MA and SI was tested 30 minutes or 24 hours later. In another group of animals, MA sensitization was induced using 5.0 mg/kg of MA, and SI was assessed after one day or thirty days of abstinence. SI was reduced in rats injected with MA 30 minutes, but not 24 hours, prior to testing, compared with saline controls. Impaired SI was observed in combination with active avoidance of the conspecific animal. Repeated injections of MA progressively reduced locomotor activity and increased stereotypy, indicating that animals were sensitized. However, no differences in SI were observed 24 hours or 30 days following the induction of sensitization. The absence of detectable differences in SI following MA sensitization may be attributable to the relatively short regimen used to induce sensitization. However, the current series of experiments provides evidence that an acute injection of MA decreases SI and simultaneously increases avoidance behavior, which supports a link between psychostimulant use and impaired social functioning. These data suggest that the acute injection model may provide a useful model to explore the neural basis of impaired social functioning and antisocial behavior.Item Tolcapone suppresses ethanol intake in alcohol-preferring rats performing a novel cued access protocol(Wiley Blackwell (Blackwell Publishing), 2014-09) McCane, Aqilah M.; Czachowski, Cristine L.; Lapish, Christopher C.; Department of Psychology, IU School of ScienceBACKGROUND: Dopamine (DA) has been shown to play a central role in regulating motivated behavior and encoding reward. Chronic drug abuse elicits a state of hypodopaminergia in the mesocorticolimbic (MCL) system in both humans and preclinical rodent models of addiction, including those modeling alcohol use disorders (AUD). METHODS: Working under the hypothesis that reductions in the bioavailability of DA play an integral role in the expression of the excessive drinking phenotype, the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) inhibitor tolcapone was used as a means to amplify cortical DA concentration and drinking behaviors were then assessed. Sucrose and ethanol (EtOH) consumption were measured in P and Wistar rats in both a free choice drinking protocol and a novel cued access protocol. RESULTS: Tolcapone attenuated the consumption of EtOH, and to a lesser extent sucrose, in P rats in the cued access protocol, while no effect was observed in the free choice drinking protocol. Tolcapone also decreased EtOH consumption in high drinking Wistar rats. A follow-up experiment using the indirect DA agonist d-amphetamine showed no change in EtOH consumption. CONCLUSIONS: Collectively, these data suggest that COMT inhibitors may be capable of alleviating the extremely motivating or salient nature of stimuli associated with alcohol. The hypothesis is put forth that the relative specificity of tolcapone for cortical DA systems may mediate the suppression of the high seeking/drinking phenotype.