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Effects of chronic and intermittent cocaine treatment on dominance, aggression, and oxytocin levels in post-lactational rats

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Abstract

Rationale

Little is known about mechanisms underlying female rodent aggression during the late postpartum period with no pups present. Studies of aggression, dominance, and oxytocin (OT) response in cocaine-treated females are sparse.

Objectives

This study was designed to examine dominance (drinking success) and aggression in a limited-access drinking model of water competition. Acute OT level measures were made on postpartum day (PPD) 36 in several brain regions of interest. Chronic and intermittent cocaine- and saline-treated and untreated rats 10 days post-weaning were tested (without pups) over PPDs 31–35 following cessation of cocaine treatment 10–30 days before testing.

Methods

Subjects were water-deprived overnight, and triads consisting of an untreated control (UN), a chronic continuous saline-treated (CS), and chronic continuous cocaine-treated (CC; 30 mg/kg/day throughout gestation) or a UN, an intermittent saline-treated (IS), and an intermittent cocaine-treated (IC; 30 mg/kg two consecutive days every 4 days throughout gestation until PPD 20) female were tested for aggression and drinking behavior during 5 min sessions on five consecutive days. The amygdala, medial preoptic area (MPOA), and ventral tegmental area were assayed for OT levels.

Results

CC and IC females were more aggressive than controls, but only IC females drank more often than controls. OT levels were lower in the MPOA of IC and CC females than in controls.

Conclusions

Findings demonstrate that long after cessation of treatment, CC- and IC-treated non-lactating females (no pups present) had higher rates of aggression, altered drinking behavior, and acutely lower MPOA OT levels.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the support of numerous undergraduate students who assisted with behavioral analyses our consultant Dr. Linda Spear and Abigail Jamieson-Drake for assistance in preparation of the manuscript. This study was funded by NIDA grants DA13362, DA13283, and 1PO1DA022446-01A2 to JMJ, and the NIH Federal Child Neglect Consortium.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina, 430 Taylor Hall, CB# 7096, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA

    Josephine M. Johns & Cheryl H. Walker

  2. Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Josephine M. Johns & Matthew S. McMurray

  3. Curriculum in Neurobiology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Josephine M. Johns, Sarah K. Williams & Elizabeth T. Cox

  4. School of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Josephine M. Johns & Thomas M. Jarrett

  5. Department of Surgery, University of Connecticut, Mansfield, CT, USA

    Paul W. Joyner

  6. Department of Internal Medicine, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Mitchell A. Black

  7. Department of Neurosurgery, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA, USA

    Christopher L. Middleton

Authors
  1. Josephine M. Johns
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  2. Matthew S. McMurray
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  3. Paul W. Joyner
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  4. Thomas M. Jarrett
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  5. Sarah K. Williams
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  6. Elizabeth T. Cox
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  7. Mitchell A. Black
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  8. Christopher L. Middleton
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  9. Cheryl H. Walker
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Josephine M. Johns.

Additional information

This work was supported by NIH grants DA13362, DA13283, PO1DA022446-A2, and the NIH Federal Child Neglect Consortium.

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Johns, J.M., McMurray, M.S., Joyner, P.W. et al. Effects of chronic and intermittent cocaine treatment on dominance, aggression, and oxytocin levels in post-lactational rats. Psychopharmacology 211, 175–185 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-010-1877-9

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