# Environmental modulation of cocaine seeking

> **NIH NIH R01** · MEDICAL COLLEGE OF WISCONSIN · 2020 · $373,450

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Cocaine addiction is a chronically relapsing disorder with no current FDA-approved drugs available. A major
contributor to relapse is that drug-related stimuli and environments have the ability to powerfully elicit cravings
and trigger relapse. Thus, a goal of current treatment plans is to reduce craving evoked by drug-related stimuli.
Psychosocial enrichment has been shown to diminish cocaine craving and activation of the medial prefrontal
cortex (mPFC) in response to drug-related stimuli, and in a rodent model, environmental enrichment (EE) also
reduces cocaine seeking and the ability of drug-related stimuli to activate the mPFC. Despite the robust ability
of environmental factors to reduce behavioral and physiological responses to drug stimuli, the mechanisms of
this phenomenon are not known. It is possible that EE directly modulates a specific ensemble of neurons that
is engaged by exposure to a previous drug-taking environment. One such drug-seeking ensemble resides in
the mPFC, a region where enrichment reduces drug stimuli-elicited activity. Our studies will focus on these
ensemble neurons to determine if EE affects their ability to become re-activated by exposure to a drug
environment, if EE alters cocaine-associated plasticity in these neurons, and if inhibition or excitation of this
ensemble alters other mPFC-dependent behaviors.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9906868
- **Project number:** 5R01DA042792-04
- **Recipient organization:** MEDICAL COLLEGE OF WISCONSIN
- **Principal Investigator:** CHRISTOPHER M OLSEN
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $373,450
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-07-01 → 2022-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9906868

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9906868, Environmental modulation of cocaine seeking (5R01DA042792-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9906868. Licensed CC0.

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