Authors: WenLin Sun YueQiang Xue ZaiFang Huang Jeffery D Steketee
Publish Date: 2010/03/16
Volume: 210, Issue: 2, Pages: 179-188
Abstract
Emerging evidence indicates that glutamatemediated activation of dopamine DA neurons in the ventral tegmental area VTA may be critically involved in cocaineinduced relapse to drugseeking behavior Activity of VTA DA neurons is modulated by multiple neurotransmitter systems including opioids serotonin dopamine and acetylcholine Recent studies demonstrated that activation of κopioid receptors κORs in the rat VTA directly inhibits the activity of a subpopulation of DA neurons projecting to the prefrontal cortex PFC and amygdala Because we previously showed that blockade of DA receptors in the dorsal PFC inhibits cocaineinduced reinstatement of extinguished cocaineseeking behavior suggesting a critical role of the VTA–PFC DA circuit in this process we tested the hypothesis that activation of κORs in the VTA will block cocaineinduced reinstatement in ratsThe κOR agonist U50 488 0–56 μg/side microinjected into the VTA dosedependently decreased cocaineinduced reinstatement The effects could not be explained by either a disruption of operant behavior or diffusion of the drug to the areas surrounding the VTA Moreover the effect was reversed by norbinaltorphimineThe project described was supported by Grant numbers DA021278 WLS and DA023215 JDS from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of NIDA or NIH All procedures followed the National Institute of Health Guidelines for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals There is no conflict of interest in relation to this article
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