Operant runway tests reveal strain differences in cocaine avoidance, suggesting dynorphin's role may not affect avoidance.
Mice develop avoidance to self-administer cocaine in the runway across a range of strains. Pre-existing strain differences in the striatal dynorphin/enkephalin milieu, however, do not appear to alter the development of cocaine avoidance, and striatal enkephalin is not necessary for the development of cocaine avoidance. This suggests higher relative striatal dynorphin does not facilitate cocaine seeking by mitigating cocaine avoidance.
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Remmers et al. (2026) studied this question.
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