Cocaine addiction remains a major public health problem in the US, but effective treatments are still lacking. Cocaine use disorder is characterized by the development of pathological motivation for cocaine, characterized by intake in the face of rising costs and harmful consequences. Decreasing excessive motivational importance of drug taking without altering motivation for natural rewards is among the major goals of treating cocaine addiction. However, development of new pharmacotherapies requires understanding the basic brain mechanisms underlying cocaine addiction. Identifying these mechanisms is timely because cocaine use and overdoses have been increasing over the last several years. A growing body of evidence indicates that midbrain circuits play a critical role in cocaine-related behaviors. My preliminary data in rodents indicate that cocaine, but not sucrose, dysregulates midbrain inhibitory circuitry via decreased function of anion transporter, KCC2, located in VTA GABA neurons. This form of cocaine-induced neuroadaptation in GABAergic signaling has not been described previously, and I plan to investigate its impact on cocaine self-administration in rats. Given my preliminary findings suggesting that KCC2 dysfunction contributes to motivational properties of cocaine, I will measure motivation for cocaine self- administration while manipulating KCC2 activity in the VTA. At the cellular level, KCC2 dysfunction attenuates GABAA receptor-mediated inhibition leading to hyperexcitability of VTA GABA neurons. To assess the role of VTA GABA neurons in cocaine motivation, I will use chemogenetic approach in transgenic rat model to directly manipulate neuronal activity during cocaine self-administration. Ultimately, I will test if cocaine dysregulates GABAergic signaling in a circuit-specific manner. Accumulated evidence indicates that VTA GABA neurons project to multiple brain areas and I will focus on GABAergic projection to the nucleus accumbens, a brain region critically involved in motivational properties of addictive drugs. I will label specific VTA GABA projections to the medial and lateral shell of the nucleus accumbens and test the effect of cocaine on GABAergic signaling in these projections. Taken together, the research will illuminate the role of midbrain GABAergic circuitry in the pathological motivation for cocaine.

Recent reports indicate that cocaine use is on a rise in the US, especially among younger Americans, leading to increased detrimental health issues and cocaine-related deaths. To date, there is no available therapy for cocaine addiction, which is characterized in part by the emergence of uncontrollable and overwhelming desire to obtain and use a drug. This study will focus on neural circuit mechanisms that contribute to pathological desire for cocaine in rodents and will explore potential therapeutic targets to mitigate cocaine abuse.