Acquisition and Responding for Conditioned Reinforcement in the Mouse: Effects of Methylphenidate, and the Role of the Dopamine Transporter
Year: 2012
Type: dissertation
Abstract: This work characterized the ability of mice to respond for conditioned reinforcement, a\nphenomenon that can be used to investigate neural substrates of incentive learning. In both\nC57Bl/6 and CD1 mice, a reward-associated stimulus acted as a conditioned reinforcer (CR). Responding was stable over multiple test days, enhanced in CD1 mice by the dopamine\ntransporter (DAT) blocker methylphenidate, and was extinguished when responding no longer produced the CR. However, transgenic C57Bl/6 mice overexpressing DAT, which decreased striatal dopamine by 40% responded normally for CR. Therefore, these results suggest that mice can be used to study brain mechanisms of incentive motivation. However, the choice of mouse strain in this paradigm is important as outbred CD1 mice appeared more susceptible to a DAT blocker compared to the inbred C57Bl/6 strain. These results also suggest that selective responding for a CR remains intact in a chronically hypodopaminergic state.
Source: TSpace (University of Toronto)
Author: James Donald Caleb Browne
Language: English
Subfield: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2626105487