Social housing effects of Intermittent Access of Methamphetamine Self-administration and social behavior
Social support is a potentially protective factor against substance use disorders (SUDs). Previous studies in animal models for SUDs have shown that when females are pair housed, they have lower motivation for cocaine and methamphetamine (METH), than females who are single housed. In males, however, social housing has not had the same beneficial effect. This study investigates effects of social housing on METH self-administration in females or males when both cagemates are self-administering METH. The study also investigated how the quality of those relationships changed after METH self-administration. The results showed that singly housed females self-administered more METH than socially housed females, while males in both social housing conditions self-administered METH at the same rate. The social behavior data showed that females given saline spend more time apart, however the females given METH spend more time together, suggesting that their social behavior may play a role in the attenuation of METH self-administration. Males' social behavior remained unchanged after METH. Males METH self-administration was affected by whether they were the dominant partner, while females' self-administration was not affected by dominance. The results of this study showed that social housing provides some protective benefits to females, not males, for METH self-administration. Further, the type of relationship between cage mates affects males' self-administration and may explain why social housing with a same sex mate is not beneficial for males.