| Affiliations: | Neuroscience Research Leadership |
| Project Leader: | Adelis Cruz acruz20@tamu.edu Psychological & Brain Sciences |
| Faculty Mentor: | Rachel Smith, Ph.D. |
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Meeting Times:
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M-F: 9:00 am – 1:00 pm |
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Team Size:
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3
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| Open Spots: | 0 |
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Special Opportunities:
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Exploring a field of neuroscience research; experiencing animal handling and running behavioral experiments; learning histology, immunohistochemistry, and microscope basics
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Team Needs:
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Description:
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Compulsive drug seeking that continues despite negative consequences is one of the defining characteristics of drug addiction. In the laboratory, we model compulsive drug seeking in rats by training them to self-administer intravenous cocaine and then introducing a mild footshock to punish or discourage cocaine seeking. Here, rats will either continue cocaine seeking despite receiving footshock (punishment resistant) or will reduce cocaine seeking after receiving footshock (punishment sensitive). Previous research has shown that cocaine exposure can change the function of brain areas such as the prefrontal cortex and striatum that are involved in controlling reward-seeking behaviors. Therefore, impaired function of the prefrontal cortex and/or striatum may lead to punishment resistant or compulsive cocaine seeking. This research project investigates how impaired prefrontal and/or striatum function can lead to compulsive cocaine seeking using behavioral, pharmacological, and immunohistochemistry approaches/manipulations |