Misc Oxytocin Reduces Self-Administration of Both Methamphetamine and Heroin (&tolerance)

[Druidus]

Oxytocin Reduces Self-Administration of Both Methamphetamine and Heroin (&tolerance)

I've been doing a lot of research on oxytocin lately. I've found some interesting studies related to it.

Apparently, at the very least in rats, oxytocin administration lowers self-administration rates of both heroin and methamphetamine. Very interesting stuff. It seems that it also lowers tolerance, while active. The level of analgesia in heroin-tolerant rats given a low dose of heroin is equivalent to that of the non-tolerant rats' analgesia. It may have a somewhat greater effect in females, perhaps due to the possibly stronger effect that oxytocin has on females in general (as shown by past studies).

I'm not sure why this is, exactly, but I'm still trying to find more studies on it. It has some major implications for use in the cessation of both heroin and methamphetamine, and, as well, it most likely would have a similar effect on drugs related to them. It also seems to reduce relapse potential/rates. Has anyone here used oxytocin before?

I plan to buy some myself, to test potential effects. Of course, I no longer use opiates (save suboxone), and I take my daily 20mg of Adderall as prescribed, so I can't test the reduction of self-administration of opiates/stimulants. I'll be looking for other effects though, perhaps self-administration of vaporized nicotine (which I now use instead of tobacco). I'd love to hear any info or experiences about oxytocin that you might have.

Here's a few of the studies I've found:

http://books.google.ca/books?id=Szq...age&q=Self Administration of Oxytocin&f=false

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19560473

Abstract
There is emerging evidence that the neuropeptide oxytocin may be utilised as a treatment for various psychopathologies, including drug addictions. Here we used an animal model to assess whether oxytocin might be effective in the treatment of methamphetamine addiction. Sprague-Dawley rats were trained to lever press to intravenously self-administer methamphetamine under a progressive ratio schedule of reinforcement. Once responding had stabilised, one group of rats received escalating doses of oxytocin (0.001, 0.01, 0.1, 0.3, 1 mg/kg) administered intraperitoneally (IP) prior to daily self-administration tests, while other rats received vehicle. After these tests, lever-pressing was extinguished and the ability of methamphetamine primes (IP, 1 mg/kg) to reinstate responding was studied with and without co-administration of oxytocin (IP, 0.3 and 1 mg/kg). Results showed that oxytocin dose-dependently reduced responding for intravenous methamphetamine with an almost complete absence of responding at the highest oxytocin dose (1 mg/kg). Hyperactivity during methamphetamine self-administration was also dose-dependently reduced by oxytocin. Oxytocin (1 but not 0.3 mg/kg) also reduced the ability of methamphetamine to reinstate methamphetamine-seeking behaviour. In separate tests, oxytocin (IP, 0.3 and 1 mg/kg) robustly decreased the hyperactivity and rearing induced by methamphetamine challenge (IP, 1 mg/kg), producing activity levels similar to control animals. This study suggests that oxytocin may have a powerful inhibitory effect on the motivation to consume methamphetamine and on hyperactivity associated with acute methamphetamine intoxication. These results point to the potential utility of human trials of oxytocin as a therapeutic treatment for methamphetamine addiction.

http://academicdepartments.musc.edu/psychiatry/research/cns/BIRCWH/Publications

Previous evidence in an animal model of drug self-administration and drug seeking showed that acute oxytocin decreased methamphetamine (meth) seeking in male rats, suggesting potential clinical efficacy for the treatment of psychostimulant addiction. However, based on the well-established role of oxytocin in reproduction and pair bond formation, it is important to know how this effect extrapolates to females. Here, we tested whether oxytocin (1 mg/kg, IP) would decrease meth seeking in female rats across various stages of the estrous cycle (Experiment 1). Freely cycling Long Evans female rats self-administered meth (IV) in 2-h daily sessions, followed by daily extinction sessions. Following extinction, rats received oxytocin (0, 0.3, or 1 mg/kg, IP) 30 min before a meth priming injection (1 mg/kg, IP) to assess reinstatement of meth seeking. Next, we examined the effects of oxytocin on motivated meth- and sucrose-taking and seeking in male and female rats. In separate experiments, males and females self-administered meth (Experiment 2) or sucrose (Experiment 3) until responding was stabilized along a fixed ratio (FR) 5 schedule of reinforcement. Subsequently, rats received either oxytocin or vehicle prior to self-administration along a progressive ratio (PR) schedule of reinforcement. Rats were subsequently tested for cue-, meth-, and stress-induced reinstatement after pretreatment with oxytocin or vehicle. While oxytocin reduced meth seeking in females, we found that estrous cycle stage (as determined from vaginal cytology) did not influence meth-primed reinstatement or the ability of oxytocin to decrease reinstatement of meth seeking. Oxytocin reduced PR responding for meth only in females. Females responded more than males during cue-induced reinstatement of meth and sucrose seeking, and oxytocin reduced this responding only in meth females. In both sexes, oxytocin attenuated meth seeking in response to a meth prime and yohimbine (a pharmacological stressor). The results suggest that oxytocin may have efficacy as a treatment of meth addiction in both sexes; however, females may show greater response to oxytocin treatment for the prevention of relapse.

http://www.researchgate.net/publica...n_self-administration_in_heroin-tolerant_rats

Institute of Pathophysiology, University Medical School. Szeged, Semmelweis u.l., H-6701. Hungary
Life Sciences (Impact Factor: 2.56). 08/1985; DOI:10.1016/0024-3205(85)90620-4
ABSTRACT Intravenous self-administration of heroin was studied in experimentally naive rats, as compared to this behavior in animals rendered tolerant to heroin by multiple injections. The tolerant rats also exhibited mild signs of spontaneous and naloxone-precipitated heroin withdrawal. Self-administration behavior developed earlier in the tolerant rats. In heroin-naive rats, oxytocin treatment did not influence the acquisition of heroin self-administration behavior. In the tolerant rats, on the other hand, oxytocin decreased the acquisition of heroin self-administration. When maintenance of heroin self-administration. was studied in the tolerant rats, graded doses of oxytocin (0.05, 0.5 and 5 ug s.c.) decreased heroin intake. This finding, which is in agreement with previous data indicating that oxytocin attenuates the development of tolerance to and dependence on narcotic analgesics, suggests that the neuropeptide reduced the reinforcing efficacy of heroin in the tolerant organism.

There are quite a few more comparable studies out there, and many are easily found through Google.

What do you guys think? I think this is pretty cool, and has a great deal of promise for those trying to quit stims/opiates, or even just those looking to lower their tolerance and thereby save cash.

Of course, there are some negative effects. Oxytocin can lower your ability to detect social deception, increase memories of negative events that occur while it's in your system, and increase the potential for negative emotions such as envy and gloating, depending of course on dose and context of use. I'm sure that these are not catastrophically severe, however, and can likely be minimized, though likely not eliminated.

Edit:

One theory suggests that because oxytocin can strengthen the salience of past memories, both negative and positive, it may allow you to feel much better than without it, which might lower the psychological need for your DOC. That's just speculation at the moment, though.

 

[abracadabra girl]

I didn't know you could buy oxytocin. I thought you had to give birth.

 

[Druidus]

No, it is available, depending on how hard you look. Online auction sites (that will remain nameless as per BL rules) even have it for sale, though whether you can trust auction-site sellers is another question. I've got a reputable source for it myself already, but I can't tell you it.

And no, it doesn't just come from giving birth. It also comes from positive social interactions, orgasms, and various other parts of your life. And we can synthesize it, our bodies don't have a monopoly on oxytocin.