Cocaine-Induced Reinstatement of a Conditioned Place Preference in Developing Rats: Involvement of the D2 Receptor

Reinstatement of conditioned place preferences have been used to investigate physiological mechanisms mediating drug-seeking behavior in adolescent and adult rodents; however, it is still unclear how psychostimulant exposure during adolescence affects neuron communication and whether these changes would elicit enhanced drug-seeking behavior later in adulthood. The present study determined whether the effects of intra-ventral tegmental area (VTA) or intra-nucleus accumbens septi (NAcc) dopamine (DA) D2 receptor antagonist infusions would block (or potentiate) cocaine-induced reinstatement of conditioned place preferences. Adolescent rats (postnatal day (PND 28–39)) were trained to express a cocaine place preference. The involvement of D2 receptors on cocaine-induced reinstatement was determined by intra-VTA or intra-NAcc infusion of the DA D2 receptor antagonist sulpiride (100 μM) during a cocaine-primed reinstatement test (10 mg/kg cocaine, i.p.). Infusion of sulpiride into the VTA but not the NAcc blocked reinstatement of conditioned place preference. These data suggest intrinsic compensatory mechanisms in the mesolimbic DA pathway mediate responsivity to cocaine-induced reinstatement of a conditioned place preference during development.