Pain is associated with stimulation of some behaviors and depression of others, and m-opioid receptor agonists are among the most widely used analgesics. This study used parallel assays of pain-stimulated and pain-depressed behavior in male SpragueDawley rats to compare antinociception profiles for six m-agonists that varied in efficacy at m-opioid receptors (from highest to lowest: methadone, ...

The effects of amphetamine along the rostrocaudal axis of the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) on ventral tegmental area (VTA) intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS) were studied. Eighteen rats were trained to lever press for ICSS in the VTA. Rate-frequency functions were determined by logarithmically decreasing the frequency of cathodal pulses in a stimulation train from a value that induced maximal res...

BACKGROUND Modafinil and its enantiomer R-modafinil are approved for the treatment of various sleep disorders, and may also be efficacious in the treatment of psychostimulant abuse. However, the ability of modafinil and R-modafinil to alter brain reward function has not yet been assessed. PURPOSE This study assessed the effects of modafinil and R-modafinil on brain reward function using the i...

To investigate the association between inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) exposure patterns and the risk of pneumonia in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients, we performed a nested case-control study. Between 1998 and 2010, 51,739 patients, including 19,838 cases of pneumonia, were matched to 74,849 control subjects selected from a cohort of COPD patients using ICSs via risk-set samp...

BACKGROUND The ability of a long-acting muscarinic antagonist (LAMA) and long-acting beta 2 agonists (LABAs; long-acting bronchodilators, LABDs) with or without inhaled corticosteroids (ICSs) to reduce early readmission in hospitalized patients with COPD is unknown. METHODS We studied a 5% sample of Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare parts A, B and D and hospitalized for COPD in 2011...

Intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS) is a behavioral procedure in which operant responding is maintained by pulses of electrical brain stimulation. In research to study abuse-related drug effects, ICSS relies on electrode placements that target the medial forebrain bundle at the level of the lateral hypothalamus, and experimental sessions manipulate frequency or amplitude of stimulation to enge...

Incidence of prescription opioid abuse and overdose, often led by oxycodone, continues to increase, producing twice as many overdose deaths as heroin. Surprisingly, preclinical reports relevant to oxycodone's abuse-related effects are relatively sparse considering its history and patient usage. The goal of this study was to characterize dose- and time-dependent effects of acute and repeated oxy...

Δ(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ(9)-THC), the main psychoactive ingredient of marijuana, has led to equivocal results when tested with the intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS) procedure or the open-field test for motor activity, two behavioural models for evaluating the reward-facilitating and locomotor stimulating effects of drugs of abuse, respectively. Therefore, in the present study, the effect...

The present study sought to examine whether repeated administration of the CB(1) receptor agonist WIN55,212-2 affected intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS) behavior and induced phenomena of tolerance or sensitization, similar to typical addictive drugs. Rats received intraperitoneal injections of vehicle for 5 days, vehicle or WIN55,212-2 (0.1, 0.3 or 1mg/kg) for 20 subsequent days, and vehicle...