Alterations of the Host Microbiome Affect Behavioral Responses to Cocaine

Addiction to cocaine and other psychostimulants represents a major public health crisis. The development and persistence of addictive behaviors comes from a complex interaction of genes and environment - the precise mechanisms of which remain elusive. In recent years a surge of evidence has suggeste...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2016-10, Vol.6 (1), p.35455-35455, Article 35455
Main Authors: Kiraly, Drew D., Walker, Deena M., Calipari, Erin S., Labonte, Benoit, Issler, Orna, Pena, Catherine J., Ribeiro, Efrain A., Russo, Scott J., Nestler, Eric J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/378/1689/5
631/378/340
Adaptation
Addictive behaviors
Animals
Anti-Bacterial Agents - pharmacology
Antibiotics
Bacteria - drug effects
Behavior
Behavior, Animal - drug effects
Cocaine
Cocaine - metabolism
Cocaine - pharmacology
Corticosterone - blood
Corticosterone - metabolism
Dopamine - metabolism
Drinking behavior
Drinking water
Drug abuse
Gastrointestinal Microbiome - drug effects
Gene Expression Profiling
Gene Expression Regulation - drug effects
Glutamic Acid - metabolism
Humanities and Social Sciences
Intestinal microflora
Male
Mice
Microbiota - drug effects
multidisciplinary
Public health
Reinforcement
Rodents
Science
Transcriptome
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Summary:Addiction to cocaine and other psychostimulants represents a major public health crisis. The development and persistence of addictive behaviors comes from a complex interaction of genes and environment - the precise mechanisms of which remain elusive. In recent years a surge of evidence has suggested that the gut microbiome can have tremendous impact on behavioral via the microbiota-gut-brain axis. In this study we characterized the influence of the gut microbiota on cocaine-mediated behaviors. Groups of mice were treated with a prolonged course of non-absorbable antibiotics via the drinking water, which resulted in a substantial reduction of gut bacteria. Animals with reduced gut bacteria showed an enhanced sensitivity to cocaine reward and enhanced sensitivity to the locomotor-sensitizing effects of repeated cocaine administration. These behavioral changes were correlated with adaptations in multiple transcripts encoding important synaptic proteins in the brain’s reward circuitry. This study represents the first evidence that alterations in the gut microbiota affect behavioral response to drugs of abuse.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/srep35455