Item Details

title

Effects of oxycodone self-administration on sleep/wake architecture

author

Pierce, Bethany Elliott

abstract

Many symptoms associated with abstinence following opioid use contribute to continued use and relapse. Long-lasting sleep disturbances are common symptoms of opioid use and withdrawal, contributing to high rates of relapse. Thus, reducing sleep impairments during abstinence may be a novel and effective treatment approach for opioid use disorder (OUD). Understanding the acute and long-term effects of opioid exposure on sleep is critical, yet understudied in animal models of OUD. Although oxycodone is widely used medically and recreationally, no study to date has assessed progressive changes in sleep/wake architecture following oxycodone self-administration in animals. In the present studies, male (n=12) and female (n=6) Sprague Dawley rats were implanted with both electroencephalography (EEG) recording devices and intravenous jugular catheters to monitor sleep duration and quality prior to and following oxycodone self-administration. Rats were first trained to self-administer sucrose pellets during the first 2 hours of the dark cycle. Next, some rats continued to self-administer sucrose pellets, while others self-administered oxycodone. After self-administration, rats underwent extinction, in which lever responding no longer resulted in reward or reward cue. EEG recordings were collected on the last day of sucrose pellet self-administration and throughout oxycodone self-administration and abstinence to examine sleep and quantitative EEG. Acute increases in time awake, high frequency EEG activity, and decreased sleep quality were detected during self-administration periods. During abstinence, increases in time awake, high frequency EEG, and decreased sleep quality (decreased delta and increased sigma during NREM sleep) were detected. Understanding the direct and long-lasting pharmacological effects of oxycodone self-administration and abstinence on sleep will be beneficial to examine novel pharmacotherapies to ameliorate sleep disturbances associated with OUD.

subject

EEG

oxycodone

rat

self-administration

sleep

contributor

Gould, Robert W (committee chair)

Ferris, Mark J (committee member)

Martin, Thomas J (committee member)

date

2022-05-24T08:36:15Z (accessioned)

2024-05-23T08:30:08Z (available)

2022 (issued)

degree

Neuroscience – MS (discipline)

embargo

2024-05-23 (terms)

identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/100778 (uri)

language

en (iso)

publisher

Wake Forest University

type

Thesis