Abstract
Rationale
Nociceptin/orphanin FQ (N/OFQ), the endogenous ligand of the opioid-like orphan receptor NOP, was shown to reduce home-cage ethanol consumption, ethanol-induced conditioned place preference and stress-induced reinstatement of alcohol-seeking behaviour.
Objectives
The present study, using genetically selected Marchigian Sardinian alcohol-preferring (msP) rats, was designed to evaluate the effect of this opioid peptide on 10% ethanol and 10% sucrose self-administration, under a fixed-ratio 1 (FR 1) or a progressive-ratio (PR) schedule of reinforcement. Furthermore, using an experimental model of relapse in which rats were trained to lever press for ethanol in the presence of the discriminative stimulus of an orange odour (S+) and a 1-s cue light (CS+) or for water in the presence of anise odour (S−) and 1-s white noise (CS−), the effect of N/oFQ on cue-induced reinstatement of extinguished ethanol responding was investigated.
Results
Sub-chronic (6 days) intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) injection of 0.5 μg or 1.0 μg N/OFQ per rat significantly reduced alcohol self-administration under both the FR 1 and PR schedules of reinforcement. Conversely, i.c.v. administration of 0.5, 1.0 or 4.0 μg of the peptide per rat did not affect sucrose self-administration. In addition, i.c.v. N/OFQ (1.0–2.0 μg per rat) significantly inhibited the reinstatement of extinguished ethanol responding under an S+/CS+ condition, whereas lever pressing under S−/CS− was not altered.
Conclusions
The present study demonstrates that the reinforcing effects of ethanol are markedly blunted by activation of the opioidergic N/OFQ receptor system. Moreover, the data provide evidence of the efficacy of N/OFQ to prevent reinstatement of ethanol-seeking behaviour elicited by environmental conditioned stimuli.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank Mike Arends for his assistance with manuscript preparation and Marino Cucculelli for technical assistance and animal care. The study was supported by the EU 5th Framework Programme, grant QLRT-2001–01048 (to RC), the NIH/NIAAA grant AA 10531 (to FW) and by grant MIUR 2002 to (MM).
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Ciccocioppo, R., Economidou, D., Fedeli, A. et al. Attenuation of ethanol self-administration and of conditioned reinstatement of alcohol-seeking behaviour by the antiopioid peptide nociceptin/orphanin FQ in alcohol-preferring rats. Psychopharmacology 172, 170–178 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-003-1645-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-003-1645-1