Virginia Research Day 2022

Medical Student Research Biomedical

03 Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome: Behavioral Affects Of Spontaneous Buprenorphine Withdrawal In Neonatal Spiny Mice

Ashlee Evans, OMS II; Shekher Mohan, PhD Corresponding author: Aevans139@liberty.edu

Introduction: As the opioid epidemic continues to be prevalent in populations, opioid use in pregnant women is also on the rise. This leads to an increase in babies born with neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS). Using a novel preclinical model of NOWS using the rodent species Acromys Cahirinus , commonly known as spiny mice, short term effects of prenatal buprenorphine exposure can be assessed using withdrawal behavior. Spiny mice have longer gestation periods lasting 38-40 days, and thus increased in utero organogenesis allows withdrawal behaviors to be assessed on postnatal day zero. Methods: After pregnancy was determined at approx 19 days, dams were treated once Liberty University College of Osteopathic Medicine, Department of Integrated Physiology & Pharmacology

similar number of wall climbs, jumps, and face cleaning behaviors compared to mice from the A treatment group. Conclusion: Preliminary data trends indicate that treatment group B undergo more withdrawal behavior. However, this study remains in-progress, and the number of pups will need to be increased before complete conclusions can be made. These results show a promising alternative preclinical model of NOWS.

daily with saline or buprenorphine (0.3mg/kg S.C.) up to postnatal day 0. This is a single- arm blinded study, so treatment groups have been assigned ‘A’ or ‘B: To assess withdrawal in pups, a series of behavioral assays were recorded indicative of drug withdrawal daily from postnatal day 0-7. Behavioral analysis was scored by a blinded investigator using an open-access Behavioral Observation Research Interactive Software (BORIS). Results: Since the study remains unblinded, data is inconclusive. However, preliminary data showed that treatment group B (n = 6) has an increased number of ‘wet-dog shakes’ during the recording period compared to treatment group A (n=7). Also, group B showed a

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