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Expression of amphetamine sensitization is associated with recruitment of a reactive neuronal population in the nucleus accumbens core
RATIONALE: Repeated exposure to psychostimulant drugs causes a long-lasting increase in the psychomotor and reinforcing effects of these drugs and an array of neuroadaptations. One such alteration is a hypersensitivity of striatal activity such that a low dose of amphetamine in sensitized animals pr...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Springer-Verlag
2008
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2362139/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18347780 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00213-008-1100-4 |
Sumario: | RATIONALE: Repeated exposure to psychostimulant drugs causes a long-lasting increase in the psychomotor and reinforcing effects of these drugs and an array of neuroadaptations. One such alteration is a hypersensitivity of striatal activity such that a low dose of amphetamine in sensitized animals produces dorsal striatal activation patterns similar to acute treatment with a high dose of amphetamine. OBJECTIVES: To extend previous findings of striatal hypersensitivity with behavioral observations and with cellular activity in the nucleus accumbens and prefrontal cortex in sensitized animals. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Rats treated acutely with 0, 1, 2.5, or 5 mg/kg i.p. amphetamine and sensitized rats challenged with 1 mg/kg i.p. amphetamine were scored for stereotypy, rearing, and grooming, and locomotor activity recorded. c-fos positive nuclei were quantified in the nucleus accumbens and prefrontal cortex after expression of sensitization with 1 mg/kg i.p. amphetamine. RESULTS: Intense stereotypy was seen in animals treated acutely with 5 mg/kg amphetamine, but not in the sensitized group treated with 1 mg/kg amphetamine. The c-fos response to amphetamine in the accumbens core was augmented in amphetamine-pretreated animals with a shift in the distribution of optical density, while no effect of sensitization was seen in the nucleus accumbens shell or prefrontal cortex. CONCLUSIONS: A lack of stereotypy in the sensitized group indicates a dissociation of behavioral responses to amphetamine and striatal immediate-early gene activation patterns. The increase in c-fos positive nuclei and shift in the distribution of optical density observed in the nucleus accumbens core suggests recruitment of a new population of neurons during expression of sensitization. |
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