Search results for "Operant conditioning"
showing 3 items of 3 documents
Acetaldehyde and Motivation
2019
Abstract Acetaldehyde contributes to alcohol’s neuroactive effects through its own motivational properties. This chapter gathers current evidence on acetaldehyde psychoactive action, focusing on behavioral investigations able to unveil acetaldehyde rewarding effects and their pharmacological modulation in vivo. Acetaldehyde induces conditioned place preference for paired environment and cues and is dose-dependently self-administered in a two-bottle choice drinking paradigm. Acetaldehyde’s motivational properties are further highlighted by operant paradigms tailored to model several addiction-like behaviors, such as induction and maintenance of operant responding, drug-seeking in extinction,…
Modulation of alcohol consumption using an operant self-administration paradigm: effects of a new dopamine aminoacidic conjugate, Phenylalanine-β(3,4…
2014
Rewarding and reinforcing properties of alcohol have been shown to be mediated by activation of the mesolimbic dopaminergic system. Experimental evidences suggest that mesolimbic dopamine system is hypofunctional in addicted brain; further, reduced dopaminergic activity outlasts somatic signs of withdrawal and may drive craving and relapse. Boosting strategy on dopaminergic neurons could represent a valid therapy. Effects of pharmacological manipulation of brain Dopaminergic receptors by a new dopamine conjugate, Phenylalanine-β(3,4dihydroxyphenyl)-etilamide (DA-Phen), on operant behaviour and on both acute and prolonged withdrawal symptoms during ethanol abstinence have been evaluated. Mal…
Visual Contrast Modulates Operant Learning Responses in Larval Zebrafish.
2018
The larval zebrafish is a promising vertebrate model organism to study neural mechanisms underlying learning and memory due to its small brain and rich behavioral repertoire. Here, we report on a high-throughput operant conditioning system for zebrafish larvae, which can simultaneously train 12 fish to associate a visual conditioned pattern with electroshocks. We find that the learning responses can be enhanced by the visual contrast, not the spatial features of the conditioned patterns, highlighted by several behavioral metrics. By further characterizing the learning curves as well as memory extinction, we demonstrate that the percentage of learners and the memory length increase as the co…