Intranasal cocaine self-administration in male mice
Intravenous drug self-administration has been widely used in behavioral neuroscience to model addiction and heightened motivational states; however, the technique is notoriously difficult and its utility has been in steady decline. Here, circumventing prior issues, we established a procedure for intranasal drug self-administration in head-restrained male mice. This procedure does not require surgical expertise or indwelling implants, drives robust schedule- and dose-dependent responding, and results in high blood cocaine concentrations. In addition to improved ease of use and face validity for modeling cocaine use disorder, this work provides an example of volitional nasal drug insufflation by a non-human animal, a behavior canonically thought to be unique to humans across compounds.
Authors
- Zahra Z. Farahbakhsh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0909-7377)
- Hannah E. Branthwaite (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0737-7620)
- J. Lee
- Eyal Y. Kimchi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4327-1102)
- Kirsty R. Erickson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3503-0130)
- Jeong Geun Kim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3142-2014)
- Keaton Song (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-9546-4273)
- Cody A. Siciliano (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9871-2089)
- Katherine N. Gibson‐Corley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1846-1580)
- Ying-Shu Quan
Institutions
- Northwestern University (US)
- Vanderbilt University (US)
- Vanderbilt Health (US)
- Vanderbilt University Medical Center (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2025-12-05
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-65875-w
- Primary Topic
- Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Brain Research Foundation
- W. M. Keck Foundation
- National Institutes of Health
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
- National Institute on Drug Abuse
- National Cancer Institute