IFIBIO HOUSSAY   25014
INSTITUTO DE FISIOLOGIA Y BIOFISICA BERNARDO HOUSSAY
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
The presence of co specifics during nicotine exposure alters drug preference in a dose dependent manner in zebrafish (Danio Rerio).
Autor/es:
ROCCO, L Y BERNABEU, R
Reunión:
Congreso; Sociedad Argentina de Investigación Clínica; 2020
Resumen:
Group dynamics in gregarious animals are a complex behavioural aspectwith multiple variables influencing the way individuals relate to one another.Drugs of abuse such as nicotine are important reinforcing stimuli which havebeen proven to alter the way group behaviour takes place. Interestingly, therehave not been studies that show whether group dynamics alter the way in whichindividuals react to a drug. These dynamics may be highly influential on the possibilityof an individual becoming addicted to a certain substance.Nicotine rewarding properties have been assessed in zebrafish using abiased conditioned place preference (CPP) protocol, which has proven to be aremarkable tool in evaluating response to drugs of abuse with this animalmodel.Despite the fact that several studies have been able to describe the wayin which group behaviour is altered with the addition of several substances,and how co specifics have altered the response to drugs of abuse by making theanimal choose between an addictive substance, food, or the possibility to be apart of a group of its own species, there have not been studies that considerhow drug exposure within a group can alter the way an individual responds to adrug long term.In the present study, we aimed to evaluate whether individuals exposedto nicotine as a group developed different responses to those of individualsexposed to the substance in isolation (?classic? CPP) and whether theseresponses varied in accordance to the concentration of nicotine to which theywere exposed.By exposing fish to either a ?Group? or an ?Alone? CPP Protocol ourpreliminary results seem to show that Nicotine elicits a stronger, more robustCPP when being exposed to the drug as a group. When Nicotine concentration isrisen to 50mg/L, however, the animals exposed as a group show negative CPPscores in comparison to their ?Alone? exposure counterparts, that exhibithigher CPP Scores when compared to the ones exposed to a concentration of 15mg/Lof Nicotine. These results may indicate that being exposed as a group enhancedthe effects of nicotine to a point that higher concentrations resulted in anexacerbation of its negative, anxiogenic effects, outweighing its rewarding,anxiolytic properties.To corroborate our findings we conductedprotocols of nicotine exposure coupled with Phenylbutirate, an HDAC inhibitorthat has been proven to arrest the development of CPP in isolated animals. Wetheorized that by blocking the unfolding of CPP in a group-enhanced CPPprotocol we should be able to observe a positive CPP score at higherconcentrations (50mg/L) whereas the isolated CPP protocol should still beshowing negative results regardless of concentration.