NIH R01 · 2025
Nicotine addiction is a major public health concern, causing over 480,000 deaths annually in the United States. Despite its addictive properties, initial nicotine exposure in nonsmokers is usually aversive. The initiation of smoking is heavily influenced by social factors, particularly during adolescence. We developed a rat model, Socially Acquired Nicotine Intravenous Self-Administration (SANSA), that simulates the initial negative experience of voluntary nicotine exposure in adolescent rats and observed strong social influence in continued nicotine intake despite this learned negative hedonic value. SANSA employs licking as an operant response to trigger the simultaneous delivery of an…
From the public funding record at NIH RePORTER. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.