Honors Theses

Date of Award

Spring 5-9-2024

Document Type

Undergraduate Thesis

Department

Biomedical Engineering

First Advisor

Troy Drewry

Second Advisor

Brenton Laing

Third Advisor

Yi Hua

Relational Format

Dissertation/Thesis

Abstract

The number of deaths due to drug overdose has increased by a factor of six since 1999, with over 75 percent of drug overdose deaths involving an opioid. As drug abuse becomes increasingly dangerous, researchers are aiming to gain a better understanding of both the toxicology of illicit drugs and the neurobiology of addiction. Traditionally, addiction has been modeled in rodents such as mice or rats using passive administration via intravenous catheterization. However, both passive administration and intravenous delivery present experimental limitations. Many researchers are moving toward self-administration because it can provide insight into motivational aspects of drug seeking that passive administration cannot, and toward vapor delivery of drug because it eliminates the inconvenience of catheterization. Currently, there are extremely few commercially available systems that facilitate rodent self-administration of vaporized drug, and none that are not highly customized and thus very expensive. The work described in this thesis aimed to meet the needs of many labs investigating drug effects by designing and developing a cost-effective and experimentally versatile vapor self-administration system for rodents that can flexibly interface with other modern neuroscience technology, such as open-source electronics, video capture equipment, and magnetic components. An apparatus consisting of an enclosure and unique ports was constructed, and successful delivery of vapor into the enclosure was achieved.

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