Research Interests
The relationship between distress tolerance and drug-seeking.
In 2019, over 70,000 people in the United States died of a drug overdose, part of on ongoing trend that has seen a sharp increase over previous years. This trend is part of a broader phenomenon that has been coined the “Deaths of Despair” crisis, an epidemic rooted in stress and depression. Indeed, recent research has shown that individuals with a low capacity to tolerate distressful situations, termed distress tolerance, have higher rates of relapse. Our lab recently developed the first preclinical model of distress tolerance, demonstrating that rats with low distress tolerance exhibit higher cocaine-seeking behavior. Based upon this finding, we have begun to assess the neurocircuitry underlying this relationship.
What role does the salience network play in the link between distress tolerance and drug-seeking?
Studies suggest that a circuit between the insula and prefrontal cortices known as the salience network may use the salience of external or interoceptive cues (such as drug craving) to modulate the function of the prefrontal cortex during the performance of difficult tasks such as distress tolerance. Our initial research investigated the role of half of this circuit, the prelimbic region of the prefrontal cortex, in distress tolerance and drug seeking. We found that neural activity during the distress tolerance task predicted subsequent drug-seeking behavior. Our findings therefore suggest that individuals who can maintain heightened prelimbic activity during stressful/challenging contexts are less likely to persistently seek out drug later.
However, our primary question remains: How does connectivity between the insula and the prelimbic cortex impact distress tolerance following a history of drug use? And how can this activity inform us of future drug-seeking behavior? To this end, our research project has two aims.
1. Our first aim is to determine how neural activity and functional connectivity in the salience network changes as a function of cocaine use and distress tolerance, as well as how this activity predicts drug-seeking behavior.
2. Our second aim is to determine if excitation of this circuit can disrupt distress tolerance in a manner similar to that of a history of cocaine.
Together, these aims will greatly expand our understanding of the salience network and its relationship to distress tolerance and drug-seeking behavior.