Topic: fentanyl

Our ability to develop, learn, and adapt depends on the brain’s capacity to change over time. To analyze plasticity processes over time in individual animals, we introduced a novel technique that enables immediate-early gene (IEG) activity to be mapped noninvasively using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Using this method, called IEG BLUsH, we interrogated the spatiotemporal relationships between neural activity and plasticity gene induction in an opioid administration paradigm. IEG activity and functional MRI (fMRI) signals were recorded following fentanyl treatments lasting several days (Fi

Social factors play a critical role in human drug addiction, and humans often consume drugs together with their peers. In contrast, in traditional animal models of addiction, rodents consume or self-administer the drug in their homecage or operant self-administration chambers while isolated from their peers. Here, we describe HOMECAGE (“Home-cage Observation and Measurement for Experimental Control and Analysis in a Group-housed Environment”), a translationally relevant method for studying oral opioid self-administration in mice. This setting reduces experimental confounds introduced by social

The µ-opioid receptor (MOP) plays a pivotal role in mediating both the therapeutic effects and abuse potential of opioid drugs. However, the comprehensive understanding of the large-scale brain effects resulting from MOP activation remains elusive. In this study, we introduce a multimodal experimental pipeline combining awake functional ultrasound (fUS) imaging through the intact skull with behavioural and molecular measurements to assess the dynamics and physiological relevance of opioid-induced changes in brain activation and functional connectivity (FC) patterns. Application of the major op