Lacagnina, Michael JKopec, AshleyCox, Stewart SHanamsagar, RichaWells, CorinneSlade, SusanGrace, Peter MWatkins, Linda RLevin, Edward DBilbo, Staci2017-12-062017Lacagnina, Michael J, Ashley M Kopec, Stewart S Cox, Richa Hanamsagar, Corinne Wells, Susan Slade, Peter M Grace, Linda R Watkins, Edward D Levin, and Staci D Bilbo. 2017. “Opioid Self-Administration is Attenuated by Early-Life Experience and Gene Therapy for Anti-Inflammatory IL-10 in the Nucleus Accumbens of Male Rats.” Neuropsychopharmacology 42 (11): 2128-2140. doi:10.1038/npp.2017.82. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/npp.2017.82.http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:34492138Early-life conditions can contribute to the propensity for developing neuropsychiatric disease, including substance abuse disorders. However, the long-lasting mechanisms that shape risk or resilience for drug addiction remain unclear. Previous work has shown that a neonatal handling procedure in rats (which promotes enriched maternal care) attenuates morphine conditioning, reduces morphine-induced glial activation, and increases microglial expression of the anti-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-10 (IL-10). We thus hypothesized that anti-inflammatory signaling may underlie the effects of early-life experience on later-life opioid drug-taking. Here we demonstrate that neonatal handling attenuates intravenous self-administration of the opioid remifentanil in a drug-concentration-dependent manner. Transcriptional profiling of the nucleus accumbens (NAc) from handled rats following repeated exposure to remifentanil reveals a suppression of pro-inflammatory cytokine and chemokine gene expression, consistent with an anti-inflammatory phenotype. To determine if anti-inflammatory signaling alters drug-taking behavior, we administered intracranial injections of plasmid DNA encoding IL-10 (pDNA-IL-10) into the NAc of non-handled rats. We discovered that pDNA-IL-10 treatment reduces remifentanil self-administration in a drug-concentration-dependent manner, similar to the effect of handling. In contrast, neither handling nor pDNA-IL-10 treatment alters self-administration of food or sucrose rewards. These collective observations suggest that neuroimmune signaling mechanisms in the NAc are shaped by early-life experience and may modify motivated behaviors for opioid drugs. Moreover, manipulation of the IL-10 signaling pathway represents a novel approach for influencing opioid reinforcement.en-USJournal Article2017-12-0610.1038/npp.2017.82