TY - JOUR T1 - The utility of maraviroc, an antiretroviral agent used to treat HIV, as treatment for opioid abuse? Data from MRI and behavioural testing in rats JF - Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience JO - JPN SP - E548 LP - E558 DO - 10.1503/jpn.200191 VL - 46 IS - 5 AU - Sade C. Iriah AU - Catarina Borges AU - Uri Shalev AU - Xuezhu Cai AU - Dan Madularu AU - Praveen P. Kulkarni AU - Craig F. Ferris Y1 - 2021/10/08 UR - http://jpn.ca/content/46/5/E548.abstract N2 - Background: Maraviroc is an antiretroviral agent and C-C chemokine coreceptor 5 (CCR5) antagonist that is currently used to treat human immunodeficiency virus. CCR5/μ-opioid receptor heterodimerization suggests that maraviroc could be a treatment for oxycodone abuse. We treated rats with maraviroc to explore its effect on oxycodone-seeking and its interference with the analgesic effects of oxycodone. We used resting-state blood-oxygen-level-dependent functional connectivity to assess the effect of maraviroc on oxycodone-enhanced coupling in the reward circuitry and performed behavioural tests to evaluate the effect of maraviroc on oxycodone rewarding properties and on oxycodone-seeking after prolonged abstinence.Methods: Two groups of rats were exposed to 8 consecutive days of oxycodone-conditioned place preference training and treatment with maraviroc or vehicle. Two additional groups were trained to self-administer oxycodone for 10 days and then tested for drug seeking after 14 days of abstinence with or without daily maraviroc treatment. We tested the effects of maraviroc on oxycodone analgesia using a tail-flick assay. We analyzed resting-state functional connectivity data using a rat 3-dimensional MRI atlas of 171 brain areas.Results: Maraviroc significantly decreased conditioned place preference and attenuated oxycodone-seeking behaviour after prolonged abstinence. The analgesic effect of oxycodone was maintained after maraviroc treatment. Oxycodone increased functional coupling with the accumbens, ventral pallidum and olfactory tubercles, but this was reduced with maraviroc treatment.Limitations: All experiments were performed in male rats only.Conclusion: Maraviroc treatment attenuated oxycodone-seeking in abstinent rats and reduced functional coupling in the reward circuitry. The analgesic effects of oxycodone were not affected by maraviroc. ER -