# Neuron Subtype Translatomics in Opiate Abuse

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND BALTIMORE · 2020 · $196,171

## Abstract

Project Summary:
Opiate use, dependence, and addiction have dramatically increased to epidemic proportions in recent years,
leading to substantial financial and societal health burdens, as well as an increasing number of overdoses.
Thus, there is a crucial need for novel therapies to treat opiate dependence and cravings occurring with
abstinence, which lead to relapse. Many studies indicate dysfunctional brain circuits in opiate use and
abstinence, while other studies have identified distinct molecular adaptations underlying opiate-induced
behaviors. Such studies emphasize a need to approach opiate use from a combined circuit and molecular
perspective to link candidate opiate use and abstinence molecules to dysfunctional neuronal subtypes. This
could uncover molecules in disease vulnerable neuron subtypes that can be pharmacologically targeted for
opiate use therapeutics. The neuronal subtypes in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) deserve considerable
attention in opiate abuse. The NAc is a critical brain hub for altered molecular processes that mediate
behavioral responses to opiates and other drugs of abuse. Further, we previously demonstrated distinct roles
of the two NAc projection medium spiny neuron (MSN) subtypes, those enriched in dopamine receptor 1 vs. 2
(D1-MSNs vs. D2-MSNs), in opiate induced behaviors. However, there is little information into the molecular
adaptations, and corresponding neuronal adaptations occurring in specific NAc neuron subtypes in opiate use
and abstinence. To provide insight into this we will perform translatome profiling, using RiboTag, in the two
MSN subtypes after opiate use. Since cellular and behavioral plasticity associated with opiate exposure occurs
along a continuum we will perform this translatome profiling in D1-MSNs vs. D2-MSNs following abstinence
from heroin self-administration at early and prolonged time periods. The studies proposed in this grant
application will, for the first time, identify the distinct translatome adaptations occurring temporally following
discontinuance of heroin in a cell-type-specific manner. Such studies are essential for uncovering molecules
underlying cellular and circuit dysfunction in opiate use and abstinence, thus providing multiple avenues of
investigation into the subtype-specific neurobiological underpinnings of opiate abuse.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10013157
- **Project number:** 5R21DA048554-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND BALTIMORE
- **Principal Investigator:** DAVID M DIETZ
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $196,171
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-15 → 2022-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10013157

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10013157, Neuron Subtype Translatomics in Opiate Abuse (5R21DA048554-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10013157. Licensed CC0.

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