# Adolescent Oxycodone Exposure on Oxycodone Reinforcement and Reward Neurocircuitry in Adulthood

> **NIH NIH R03** · INDIANA UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS · 2021 · $79,250

## Abstract

ABSTRACT:
Adolescence is one of the most vulnerable stages for the long-term effects of drugs of abuse and an estimated
3.4 million from adolescence have misused prescription opioids in the past year, with 3.5% of them being in
early/mid stage of adolescents (12 -17 years old) and 7.1% of them being in the late adolescence to emerging
adulthood stage (ages 18-25) (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2017). Early
adolescent initiation of prescriptions opioids is more likely to result in subsequent prescription opioid misuse in
adulthood than late adolescent initiation (McCabe et al., 2007). Therefore, there is a need to better understand
the long-term neurobiological consequences that misuse of prescription opioids in early/mid and late
adolescence may have in adulthood in order to develop unique interventions. Oxycodone is one of the most
commonly misused prescription opioids among adolescents. However, there is a substantial gap in knowledge
about the long-term neurobiological consequences of adolescence exposure to oxycodone on reward-related
behaviors in adulthood. The use of pre-clinical animal models can help to understand the effects of adolescent
exposure to oxycodone on adult mesolimbic reward pathway. The major goal of this small grant project (R03)
is to obtain proof of concept data to show that adolescent oxycodone exposure leads to a persistent increase
in reinforcing properties/dopamine release in adulthood. Therefore, the overall objectives are to determine the
effects of early and late adolescence exposure to oxycodone on drug reinforcement and dopamine release in
nucleus accumbens in adulthood and assess if there are differential effects between early and late
adolescence exposure. Since the early and late adolescence drug exposure will have differential effects on the
neurobiology of reward circuits due to hormonal changes (Spears, 2000; 2015), we will utilize two time-points
of adolescence exposure. This proposal will utilize state-of-the-art procedures to elucidate how adolescence
exposure alters reinforcing properties of oxycodone within the mesolimbic dopamine system. This is a highly
significant project that will provide first data on how adolescent exposure to oxycodone will have long-lasting
effects on VTA rewarding properties in adulthood. Once we establish this phenomenon in this model, the data
will be used to further understand the persistent changes in reward circuitry and molecular mechanisms in
future R01 application.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10285458
- **Project number:** 1R03DA054335-01
- **Recipient organization:** INDIANA UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS
- **Principal Investigator:** Sheketha Renay Hauser
- **Activity code:** R03 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $79,250
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-07-15 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10285458

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10285458, Adolescent Oxycodone Exposure on Oxycodone Reinforcement and Reward Neurocircuitry in Adulthood (1R03DA054335-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10285458. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*