Full metadata
Title
Coding and Non-coding RNA Expression in Rodent Models of Cocaine Craving
Description
Substance use disorders (SUDs) are difficult to treat, in part because drug craving can be elicited by exposure to drug-associated environments and cues within the environment. Furthermore, this craving becomes more pronounced as abstinence progresses and it can take months to years for cue-elicited craving to finally wane. This important hallmark of addiction is modeled in rodents by exposing them to light/tone cues associated with the self-administration (SA) of cocaine. Cue exposure results in drug-seeking behavior, an animal analogue for drug craving. The overarching goal of this dissertation was to use the rodent SA model to explore the nucleus accumbens (NAc), a key brain region in the neural pathway of craving, and examine ribonucleic acid (RNA) expression that may underlie cocaine-seeking behavior. This includes messenger RNAs (mRNAs), which encode directly for proteins, and non-coding RNAs, which are important regulators of mRNA expression and cellular function. My first experiment aimed to identify non-coding microRNAs, which directly target and suppress mRNA expression, that are differentially expressed in animals with high or low cocaine-seeking behavior. In the second study, I compared RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) datasets from rodent models of cocaine abstinence and developed a novel workflow to narrow candidate genes. In the final experiment, I utilized RNA-seq and reverse transcription real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) to identify and explore non-coding, circular RNAs that may influence gene regulatory networks and impact drug-seeking behavior. Overall, these studies promote our understanding of the neurogenetic mechanisms of craving and they suggest recommendations for improving the experimental design of future neurogenomic studies.
Date Created
2022
Contributors
- Vannan, Annika (Author)
- Neisewander, Janet L (Thesis advisor)
- Wilson, Melissa A (Thesis advisor)
- Ferguson, Deveroux (Committee member)
- Olive, Michael F (Committee member)
- Perrone-Bizzozero, Nora I (Committee member)
- Arizona State University (Publisher)
Topical Subject
Resource Type
Extent
184 pages
Language
eng
Copyright Statement
In Copyright
Primary Member of
Peer-reviewed
No
Open Access
No
Handle
https://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.2.N.171808
Level of coding
minimal
Cataloging Standards
Note
Partial requirement for: Ph.D., Arizona State University, 2022
Field of study: Neuroscience
System Created
- 2022-12-20 06:19:18
System Modified
- 2022-12-20 06:19:18
- 1 year 10 months ago
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