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Sleep-deprived mice find cocaine more rewarding

Sleep deprivation increases rewarding properties of cocaine through motivation peptide

Date:
November 2, 2020
Source:
Society for Neuroscience
Summary:
Sleep deprivation may pave the way to cocaine addiction. Too-little sleep can increase the rewarding properties of cocaine, according to new research.
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Sleep deprivation may pave the way to cocaine addiction. Too-little sleep can increase the rewarding properties of cocaine, according to new research in mice published in eNeuro.

Poor sleep and cocaine use go hand-in-hand. Both acute and chronic cocaine use disrupts sleep, and sleep disturbances can increase the likelihood of relapse. But it's unclear how sleep deprivation contributes to cocaine addiction. The orexin system, which influences motivated and addictive behaviors through the peptide orexin, may underly the relationship: orexin activity increases during sleep deprivation, and blocking orexin receptors reduces reward-seeking.

Bjorness and Greene conditioned mice to associate a room with cocaine and examined how sleep deprivation affected their ability to develop a preference for the cocaine room. Sleep-deprived mice formed a preference for a lower dose of cocaine, one that did not affect rested mice. They also formed a stronger preference for a standard cocaine dose, indicating an increase in the amount of reward cocaine provided. Blocking the orexin system reduced the increased cocaine preference driven by sleep deprivation.


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Materials provided by Society for Neuroscience. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal Reference:

  1. Theresa E. Bjorness, Robert W. Greene. Sleep deprivation enhances conditioned place preference in an orexin receptor modulated manner. eneuro, 2020; ENEURO.0283-20.2020 DOI: 10.1523/ENEURO.0283-20.2020

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Society for Neuroscience. "Sleep-deprived mice find cocaine more rewarding." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 2 November 2020. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201102133331.htm>.
Society for Neuroscience. (2020, November 2). Sleep-deprived mice find cocaine more rewarding. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 25, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201102133331.htm
Society for Neuroscience. "Sleep-deprived mice find cocaine more rewarding." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201102133331.htm (accessed April 25, 2024).

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