Tmod2 Is a Regulator of Cocaine Responses through Control of Striatal and Cortical Excitability and Drug-Induced Plasticity

• Published in: The Journal of neuroscience 2024-05, Vol.44 (18), p.e1389232024
• Main Authors: Mitra, Arojit, Deats, Sean P, Dickson, Price E, Zhu, Jiuhe, Gardin, Justin, Nieman, Brian J, Henkelman, R Mark, Tsai, Nien-Pei, Chesler, Elissa J, Zhang, Zhong-Wei, Kumar, Vivek
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Actin; Addictions; Animals; Brain; Cerebral Cortex - drug effects; Cerebral Cortex - physiology; Cocaine; Cocaine - pharmacology; Cocaine-Related Disorders - genetics; Cocaine-Related Disorders - physiopathology; Corpus Striatum - drug effects; Corpus Striatum - metabolism; Cortical Excitability - drug effects; Dendritic branching; Dopamine Uptake Inhibitors - administration & dosage; Dopamine Uptake Inhibitors - pharmacology; Drug abuse; Drug development; Excitability; Female; Firing rate; Intellectual disabilities; Magnetic resonance imaging; Male; Mesolimbic system; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Mice, Knockout; Microfilament Proteins - genetics; Microfilament Proteins - metabolism; Narcotics; Neostriatum; Neuroimaging; Neuronal Plasticity - drug effects; Neuronal Plasticity - physiology; Neurons; Neuroplasticity; Nucleus accumbens; Phenotypes; Phenotyping; Plasticity; Spiny neurons; Synaptic plasticity; Synaptogenesis; Therapeutic targets; Transcriptomics
• ISSN: 0270-6474; 1529-2401; 1529-2401
• DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1389-23.2024

Drugs of abuse induce neuroadaptations, including synaptic plasticity, that are critical for transition to addiction, and genes and pathways that regulate these neuroadaptations are potential therapeutic targets. ( ) is an actin-regulating gene that plays an important role in synapse maturation and dendritic arborization and has been implicated in substance abuse and intellectual disability in humans. Here, we mine the KOMP2 data and find that 2 knock-out mice show emotionality phenotypes that are predictive of addiction vulnerability. Detailed addiction phenotyping shows that deletion does not affect the acute locomotor response to cocaine administration. However, sensitized locomotor responses are highly attenuated in these knock-outs, indicating perturbed drug-induced plasticity. In addition, mutant animals do not self-administer cocaine indicating lack of hedonic responses to cocaine. Whole-brain MR imaging shows differences in brain volume across multiple regions, although transcriptomic experiments did not reveal perturbations in gene coexpression networks. Detailed electrophysiological characterization of KO neurons showed increased spontaneous firing rate of early postnatal and adult cortical and striatal neurons. Cocaine-induced synaptic plasticity that is critical for sensitization is either missing or reciprocal in KO nucleus accumbens shell medium spiny neurons, providing a mechanistic explanation of the cocaine response phenotypes. Combined, these data, collected from both males and females, provide compelling evidence that is a major regulator of plasticity in the mesolimbic system and regulates the reinforcing and addictive properties of cocaine.