Utility of the Recombinase Driver CX3CR1-ERT2 Rat Strain in Nicotine Self-Administration.
Overview
- Department of Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40508, USA; (A.M.W.); (A.J.C.); (D.L.R.); (C.L.C.); (P.T.K.J.); (K.R.M.)
- Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC 29425, USA
Abstract
Smoking remains a leading preventable cause of death, and nicotine is the primary substance responsible for maintaining use of tobacco products. Preclinical rodent models have shown that neuroimmune signaling is dysregulated by nicotine self-administration (SA) within the nucleus accumbens core (NAcore). Microglia are the resident brain immune cell and prior studies have shown that they play an important role in nicotine-related behaviors. However, while transgenic mouse lines allow for specific evaluations of microglia to determine their role in neurobiology and behavior, there are fewer tools available for rats as a model species, thus limiting our ability to evaluate specific contributions of microglia to nicotine SA. A transgenic rat expressing Cre under the control of the CX3CR1 promoter bred on a Long–Evans (LE) background was recently developed, and here we show that NAcore microglia can be virally transduced with designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs (DREADDs) without neuronal expression. We further show that CX3CR1::ERT2 rats readily self-administer nicotine and display a characteristic extinction curve. Together, these validation studies lay the foundation for future use of this transgenic rat line to evaluate the specific contributions of microglia within the brain reward pathway to the neurobehavioral underpinnings of nicotine addiction.
Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.
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Data
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- doi:10.7910/
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Data Availability Statement
The original data presented in the study are openly available in Harvard Dataverse at https://
Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.
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Version 1, 27 September 2026: the first record
Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 8 authors, 5 keywords, 11 MeSH terms, 2 funders, 50 references, 5 RRIDs.
Cite
This paper
White, A. M., Craig, A. J., Richie, D. L., Corley, C. L., Kendrick, P. T., McNealy, K. R., Scofield, M. D., & Gipson, C. D. (2026). Utility of the Recombinase Driver CX3CR1-ERT2 Rat Strain in Nicotine Self-Administration. Cells, 15(16), 1445. https://
BibTeX
@article{white2026utilit
author = {White, Ashley M and Craig, Ashley J and Richie, Daryl L and Corley, Christa L and Kendrick, Percell T and McNealy, Kathleen R and Scofield, Michael D and Gipson, Cassandra D},
title = {{Utility of the Recombinase Driver CX3CR1-ERT2 Rat Strain in Nicotine Self-Administration}},
journal = {Cells},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
volume = {15},
number = {16},
pages = {1445},
publisher = {Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)},
issn = {2073-4409},
doi = {10.3390/
url = {https://
pmid = {42645173},
pmcid = {PMC13511460}
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
AU - White, Ashley M
AU - Craig, Ashley J
AU - Richie, Daryl L
AU - Corley, Christa L
AU - Kendrick, Percell T
AU - McNealy, Kathleen R
AU - Scofield, Michael D
AU - Gipson, Cassandra D
TI - Utility of the Recombinase Driver CX3CR1-ERT2 Rat Strain in Nicotine Self-Administration
T2 - Cells
J2 - Cells
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/
VL - 15
IS - 16
SP - 1445
SN - 2073-4409
PB - Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)
DO - 10.3390/
UR - https://
LA - en
ER -
CSL-JSON
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"container-title": "Cells",
"author": [
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"publisher": "Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)",
"URL": "https://
"language": "en",
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