"Nicotine and Insular Cortical Mechanism Contributing to Opioid Abuse Liability"
My lab is interested in elucidating the biobehavioral mechanisms through which insular cortical dysfunction contributes to problematic drug use. To this end, we employ chemogenetic circuit dissection and behavioral pharmacological approaches to address two independent research lines. Part of my lab is working on the role that dopaminergic signaling within the insula plays in impulsive responding for alcohol that develops following binge-like exposure during adolescence. For this presentation, I will be presenting our work on the effects of nicotine administration, either during adulthood or adolescence, on the liability for opioid abuse. We are examining how nicotine exposure may alter the neurophysiology of the insular cortex in a manner that affects learning about the consequences of opioid administration. Our data implicate nicotine in engendering compulsive-like opioid seeking that persists despite adverse consequences.
