# Genomic Analysis of Avoidance Learning in Addiction

> **NIH NIH U01** · MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA · 2022 · $149,211

## Abstract

Abstract:
The propensity of an individual to become addicted to drugs of abuse is strongly heritable, and the
heritability of cocaine addiction may be particularly high. Furthermore, most individuals exposed to
cocaine and other drugs of abuse do not progress to dependence, and even those who do may
eventually stop or reduce their usage as the economic, social, and medical costs of drug use climb.
One factor that may slow or prevent the transition from occasional to habitual use is innate aversive
response to cocaine, which vary widely between individuals, and depend on specific molecular and
circuit mechanisms being studied in our lab. The current U01 project has tested over 800 NIH
Heterogeneous Stock (HS) rats on a task that measures avoidance responses to cocaine, and found
heritability to be high in female HS rats, but negligible in males. Hence, we propose to shift the focus
of the remaining 2 years of this study toward female rats, while also seeking additional funds to test
additional female rats to make up for the males that will likely not contribute significantly to eventual
GWAS findings.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10442869
- **Project number:** 3U01DA044468-05S1
- **Recipient organization:** MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
- **Principal Investigator:** THOMAS C JHOU
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $149,211
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2018-04-15 → 2023-06-04

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10442869

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10442869, Genomic Analysis of Avoidance Learning in Addiction (3U01DA044468-05S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10442869. Licensed CC0.

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