Project Grant R01DA063199

This federal Project Grant award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), under the Drug Use and Addiction Research Programs (CFDA 93.279), provides $654,500.00 to the University of Tennessee Health Science Center to conduct research on the social factors that influence the initiation and continuation of nicotine addiction.

The key research objectives are to investigate how social learning alters the hedonic value of nicotine and facilitates the extinction of nicotine-conditioned aversion, with a focus on the roles of the CACNA1C gene and oxytocin receptor signaling in the central amygdala. The project employs a rodent model called socially acquired nicotine intravenous self-administration (SANSA) to simulate the initial negative experience of voluntary nicotine exposure in adolescents and study the influence of social factors on continued nicotine intake. The research findings are expected to enhance the understanding of smoking initiation and provide insights into the processes by which the social environment influences the trajectory of substance use disorders.