NICOTINE WITHDRAWAL AND DEFICITS IN COGNITIVE FLEXIBILITY: POSSIBLE TIES TO ABERRATIONS IN FRONTOSTRIATAL BDNF SIGNALING

Nicotine addiction continues to be a leading cause of preventable death worldwide. Despite the plethora of available treatments for smoking cessation, smoking relapse after attempts to quit remains high. It is possible that impairments in cognitive flexibility and underlying neurochemical circuits in nicotine addicts may foster maladaptive behaviors that affect individuals’ ability to refrain from taking drugs. Here we characterized the effects of spontaneous nicotine withdrawal on cognitive flexibility in mice using an operant strategy set-shifting task. Because frontostriatal circuits are critical for cognitive flexibility and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) modulates glutamate plasticity, we also explored the effects of nicotine withdrawal on these neurochemical substrates. Adult male C57BL/6J mice were trained in an operant task that required the animals to switch from using a spatial response-driven strategy to a visual cue-based strategy to achieve rewards. Mice were exp

Grantor dc:publisher

Temple University. Libraries

Year dc:date.issued

2017

Author dc:creator

• Cole, Robert David

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Parikh, Vinay

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Gould, Thomas John, 1966-
• Briand, Lisa A.
• Bangasser, Debra A.
• Chein, Jason M.
• Ellman, Lauren M.

• Neurosciences
• BDNF
• Cognitive flexibility
• Dorsal striatum
• Nicotine withdrawal

Statement dc:rights

• IN COPYRIGHT- This Rights Statement can be used for an Item that is in copyright. Using this statement implies that the organization making this Item available has determined that the Item is in copyright and either is the rights-holder, has obtained permission from the rights-holder(s) to make their Work(s) available, or makes the Item available under an exception or limitation to copyright (including Fair Use) that entitles it to make the Item available.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12613/990

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarshare.temple.edu:20.500.12613/990