Cocaine must enter the brain to evoke unconditioned dopamine release within the nucleus accumbens shell

In addition to blocking dopamine (DA) uptake, cocaine also causes an unconditioned increase in DA release. In drug naive rats, this effect is most robust within the nucleus accumbens (NAc) shell. Recent studies have shown that, in rats trained to self-administer cocaine, cocaine may act in the perip...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neuroscience letters 2011-10, Vol.504 (1), p.13-17
Main Authors: Porter-Stransky, Kirsten A., Wescott, Seth A., Hershman, Molly, Badrinarayan, Aneesha, Vander Weele, Caitlin M., Lovic, Vedran, Aragona, Brandon J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Biological and medical sciences
Blood-Brain Barrier - metabolism
Cocaine
Cocaine - analogs & derivatives
Cocaine - pharmacology
Dopamine
Dopamine - metabolism
Electric Stimulation
Electrodes, Implanted
Fast-scan cyclic voltammetry
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Male
Medical sciences
Neuropharmacology
Nucleus accumbens
Nucleus Accumbens - drug effects
Nucleus Accumbens - metabolism
Nucleus Accumbens - physiology
Pharmacology. Drug treatments
Psychoanaleptics: cns stimulant, antidepressant agent, nootropic agent, mood stabilizer
Psychoanaleptics: cns stimulant, antidepressant agent, nootropic agent, mood stabilizer..., (alzheimer disease)
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopharmacology
Rats
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs
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Summary:In addition to blocking dopamine (DA) uptake, cocaine also causes an unconditioned increase in DA release. In drug naive rats, this effect is most robust within the nucleus accumbens (NAc) shell. Recent studies have shown that, in rats trained to self-administer cocaine, cocaine may act in the periphery to enhance mesolimbic DA release. Further, these studies have suggested that peripheral cocaine action may also enhance unconditioned DA release. Here, we test if it is necessary for cocaine to enter the brain to evoke unconditioned increases in DA release within the NAc shell. Administration of a cocaine analogue that crosses the blood brain barrier (cocaine HCl) enhances electrically evoked DA release and the number of cocaine-evoked phasic DA release events (i.e., DA transients) within the NAc shell. However, administration of a cocaine analogue that does not cross the blood brain barrier (cocaine MI) does not alter either measure. We therefore conclude that cocaine must act within the central nervous system to evoke unconditioned DA release within the NAc shell.
ISSN:0304-3940
1872-7972
DOI:10.1016/j.neulet.2011.08.028