A review of nonhuman primate models of early life stress and adolescent drug abuse

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Alison G.P. Wakeford, Emory University; Elyse L. Morin, Emory University; Sara N. Bramlett, Emory University; Leonard Howell, Emory University; Maria Sanchez, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2018-11-01
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2018
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ynstr.2018.09.005
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Neurobiology of Stress
• ISSN: 2352-2895
• Volume: 9
• Start Page: 188
• End Page: 198
• Grant/Funding Information: The YNPRC is fully accredited by the Association for the Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC), International.; Funding for this research was provided by NIH grants MH078105, DA038588, HD077623 and Office of Research Infrastructure Programs/OD grant OD11132 (Yerkes National Primate Research Center Base grant, formerly RR000165).
• Keywords: Sex; Stress; Drug abuse; Adolescence; Monkeys; Self-administration
• Research Categories: Biology, Neuroscience

Abstract

Adolescence represents a developmental stage in which initiation of drug use typically occurs and is marked by dynamic neurobiological changes. These changes present a sensitive window during which perturbations to normative development lead to alterations in brain circuits critical for stress and emotional regulation as well as reward processing, potentially resulting in an increased susceptibility to psychopathologies. The occurrence of early life stress (ELS) is related to a greater risk for the development of substance use disorders (SUD) during adolescence. Studies using nonhuman primates (NHP) are ideally suited to examine how ELS may alter the development of neurobiological systems modulating the reinforcing effects of drugs, given their remarkable neurobiological, behavioral, and developmental homologies to humans. This review examines NHP models of ELS that have been used to characterize its effects on sensitivity to drug reinforcement, and proposes future directions using NHP models of ELS and drug abuse in an effort to develop more targeted intervention and prevention strategies for at risk clinical populations.