Increases in Doublecortin Immunoreactivity in the Dentate Gyrus Following Extinction of Heroin-Seeking Behavior.
Increases in Doublecortin Immunoreactivity in the Dentate Gyrus following Extinction of Heroin-Seeking Behavior.
Filed under: Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation
Neural Plast. 2012; 2012: 283829
Hicks MP, Wischerath KC, Lacrosse AL, Olive MF
Adult-generated neurons in the dentate gyrus (DG) of the hippocampus play a role in various forms of learning and memory. However, adult born neurons in the DG, while still at an immature stage, exhibit unique electrophysiological properties and are also functionally implicated in learning and memory processes. We investigated the effects of extinction of drug-seeking behavior on the formation of immature neurons in the DG as assessed by quantification of doublecortin (DCX) immunoreactivity. Rats were allowed to self-administer heroin (0.03?mg/kg/infusion) for 12 days and then subjected either to 10 days of extinction training or forced abstinence. We also examined extinction responding patterns following heroin self-administration in glial fibrillary acidic protein thymidine kinase (GFAP-tk) transgenic mice, which have been previously demonstrated to show reduced formation of immature and mature neurons in the DG following treatment with ganciclovir (GCV). We found that extinction training increased DCX immunoreactivity in the dorsal DG as compared with animals undergoing forced abstinence, and that GCV-treated GFAP-tk mice displayed impaired extinction learning as compared to saline-treated mice. Our results suggest that extinction of drug-seeking behavior increases the formation of immature neurons in the DG and that these neurons may play a functional role in extinction learning.
HubMed – drug
Clinical pharmacology in sleep medicine.
Filed under: Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation
ISRN Pharmacol. 2012; 2012: 914168
Proctor A, Bianchi MT
The basic treatment goals of pharmacological therapies in sleep medicine are to improve waking function by either improving sleep or by increasing energy during wakefulness. Stimulants to improve waking function include amphetamine derivatives, modafinil, and caffeine. Sleep aids encompass several classes, from benzodiazepine hypnotics to over-the-counter antihistamines. Other medications used in sleep medicine include those initially used in other disorders, such as epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, and psychiatric disorders. As these medications are prescribed or encountered by providers in diverse fields of medicine, it is important to recognize the distribution of adverse effects, drug interaction profiles, metabolism, and cytochrome substrate activity. In this paper, we review the pharmacological armamentarium in the field of sleep medicine to provide a framework for risk-benefit considerations in clinical practice.
HubMed – drug
Application of Collagen-Model Triple-Helical Peptide-Amphiphiles for CD44-Targeted Drug Delivery Systems.
Filed under: Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation
J Drug Deliv. 2012; 2012: 592602
Ndinguri MW, Zheleznyak A, Lauer JL, Anderson CJ, Fields GB
Cancer treatment by chemotherapy is typically accompanied by deleterious side effects, attributed to the toxic action of chemotherapeutics on proliferating cells from nontumor tissues. The cell surface proteoglycan CD44 has been recognized as a cancer stem cell marker. The present study has examined CD44 targeting as a way to selectively deliver therapeutic agents encapsulated inside colloidal delivery systems. CD44/chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan binds to a triple-helical sequence derived from type IV collagen, ?1(IV)1263-1277. We have assembled a peptide-amphiphile (PA) in which ?1(IV)1263-1277 was sandwiched between 4 repeats of Gly-Pro-4-hydroxyproline and conjugated to palmitic acid. The PA was incorporated into liposomes composed of DSPG, DSPC, cholesterol, and DSPE-PEG-2000 (1?:?4?:?5?:?0.5). Doxorubicin-(DOX-)loaded liposomes with and without 10%??1(IV)1263-1277 PA were found to exhibit similar stability profiles. Incubation of DOX-loaded targeted liposomes with metastatic melanoma M14#5 and M15#11 cells and BJ fibroblasts resulted in IC(50) values of 9.8, 9.3, and >100??M, respectively. Nontargeted liposomes were considerably less efficacious for M14#5 cells. In the CD44(+) B16F10 mouse melanoma model, CD44-targeted liposomes reduced the tumor size to 60% of that of the untreated control, whereas nontargeted liposomes were ineffective. These results suggest that PA targeted liposomes may represent a new class of nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems.
HubMed – drug
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