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Socially isolated adolescent rats acquire amphetamine- and alcohol-associated memories faster — and in the case of amphetamine are slower to extinguish, or 'unlearn', them — than rats kept in groups.
Hitoshi Morikawa and his colleagues at the University of Texas at Austin found that isolated rats formed a preference for drug-associated stimuli after only one exposure, whereas rats housed in groups required repeated exposures. The researchers also showed that social isolation boosted signalling by certain neurons in a part of the brain that links behaviours with rewards. This boost was not reversed by returning the rats to a social environment.
Such effects may help to explain how pre-adult experiences can increase vulnerability to addiction, the authors suggest.
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Lonely teen rats choose drugs. Nature 494, 405 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/494405e
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/494405e