Work

Satiating Effects of Cocaine Are Controlled by Dopamine Actions in the Nucleus Accumbens Core

Year: 2011

Type: article

Abstract: Intravenous cocaine intake in laboratory animals is characterized by periods of apparent drug satiety between regularly spaced earned injections. The reinforcing properties of cocaine are linked primarily to dopaminergic neurotransmission in the shell and not the core of nucleus accumbens. To determine whether the satiating effects of cocaine are similarly mediated, we perfused dopamine receptor agonists into the core or the shell during intravenous cocaine self-administrations by rats. Neither D1-type (SKF38393) nor D2-type (quinpirole) agonist was effective when given alone. However, a combination of the two agonists perfused into the core but not the shell significantly increased the time between cocaine self-injections, decreasing the amount of earned intake. Together with previous findings, the current data suggest that the satiating and reinforcing effects of cocaine are mediated by different ventral striatal output neurons.

Source: Journal of Neuroscience

DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1903-11.2011

Authors: Nobuyoshi Suto, Roy A. Wise

Institutions: National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Scripps Research Institute, United States Department of Health and Human Services

Language: English

Topic: Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior

Subfield: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience

Field: Neuroscience

Domain: Life Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: hybrid

Funders: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse