Risk-assessment and risk-taking behavior predict potassium- and amphetamine-induced dopamine response in the dorsal striatum of rats

Abstract

Certain personality types and behavioral traits display high correlations to drug use and an increased level of dopamine in the reward system is a common denominator of all drugs of abuse. Dopamine response to drugs has been suggested to correlate with some of these personality types and to be a key factor influencing the predisposition to addiction. This study investigated if behavioral traits can be related to potassium- and amphetamine-induced dopamine response in the dorsal striatum, an area hypothesized to be involved in the shift from drug use to addiction. The open field and multivariate concentric square field™ tests were used to assess individual behavior in male Wistar rats. Chronoamperometric recordings were then made to study the potassium- and amphetamine-induced dopamine response in vivo. A classification based on risk-taking behavior in the open field was used for further comparisons. Risk-taking behavior was correlated between the behavioral tests and high risk takers displayed a more pronounced response to the dopamine uptake blocking effects of amphetamine. Behavioral parameters from both tests could also predict potassium- and amphetamine-induced dopamine responses showing a correlation between neurochemistry and behavior in risk-assessment and risk-taking parameters. In conclusion, the high risk-taking rats showed a more pronounced reduction of dopamine uptake in the dorsal striatum after amphetamine indicating that this area may contribute to the sensitivity of these animals to psychostimulants and proneness to addiction. Further, inherent dopamine activity was related to risk-assessment behavior, which may be of importance for decision-making and inhibitory control, key components in addiction.

Maternal nicotine exposure during lactation alters food preference, anxiety-like behavior and the brain dopaminergic reward system in the adult rat offspring

“…This observation is possibly justified by the decreased D2R, since an inverse correlation between these parameters has been demonstrated [30]. Several studies have demonstrated that increased decision-making is associated with predisposition to rewarding and addictive behaviors [43,62,81,111,118]. Our data are in agreement with the aforementioned observations since it shows that N animals have changes in the reward system, specifically in NAc D2R and DAT contents.…”

“…Since increased decision-making and risk assessment behaviors were related with the modulation of dopamine levels in the mesolimbic system, which leads to a higher vulnerability to drug addiction [15,43,62,81,111,118], in the present study we tested the hypothesis that maternal nicotine exposure during lactation is associated with changes in the dopaminergic and opioid signaling pathways in the brain reward system of the adult offspring, and that these alterations are associated with changes in the offspring's food preference and behavior.…”

Subgroup-dependent effects of voluntary alcohol intake on behavioral profiles in outbred Wistar rats

“…The HD animals had a shorter duration in the central circle prior to alcohol access compared to the LD animals. As previous results have revealed differences in risk-taking behavior in the central circle versus on the bridge [26,39], the functional category risk taking was also divided into performance on the bridge and in the central circle, respectively. The HD animals showed a lower risk-taking behavior in central circle-related parameters compared to the LD animals.…”

Chronic treatment with mood stabilizer lithium inhibits amphetamine-induced risk-taking manic-like behaviors

“…Increased engagement in risk-taking behaviors is found in psychiatric disorders such as BD, schizophrenia and substance abuse [15,22], and has been studied in animal models for psychiatric disorders [19,24,30,27]. Repeated amphetamine treatment was found to increase risk-taking behavior [14,34].…”