Title | Incubation of cocaine-craving relates to glutamate over-flow within ventromedial prefrontal cortex. |
Publication Type | Journal Article |
Year of Publication | 2016 |
Authors | Shin CB, Serchia MM, Shahin JR, Ruppert-Majer MA, Kippin TE, Szumlinski KK |
Journal | Neuropharmacology |
Volume | 102 |
Pagination | 103-10 |
Date Published | 2016 Mar |
ISSN | 1873-7064 |
Keywords | Animals, Cocaine, Craving, Cues, Dopamine, Glutamic Acid, Prefrontal Cortex, Rats, Self Administration |
Abstract | Craving elicited by drug-associated cues intensifies across protracted drug abstinence - a phenomenon termed "incubation of craving" - and drug-craving in human addicts correlates with frontal cortical hyperactivity. Herein, we employed a rat model of cue-elicited cocaine-craving to test the hypothesis that the time-dependent incubation of cue-elicited cocaine-craving is associated with adaptations in dopamine and glutamate neurotransmission within the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). Rats were trained to self-administer intravenous cocaine (6 h/day × 10 days) and underwent in vivo microdialysis procedures during 2 h-tests for cue-elicited cocaine-craving at either 3 or 30 days withdrawal. Controls rats were trained to either self-administer sucrose pellets or received no primary reinforcer. Cocaine-seeking rats exhibited a withdrawal-dependent increase and decrease, respectively, in cue-elicited glutamate and dopamine release. These patterns of neurochemical change were not observed in either control condition. Thus, cue-hypersensitivity of vmPFC glutamate terminals is a biochemical correlate of incubated cocaine-craving that may stem from dopamine dysregulation in this region. |
DOI | 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2015.10.038 |
Alternate Journal | Neuropharmacology |
PubMed ID | 26522436 |
PubMed Central ID | PMC4698200 |
Grant List | R01 DA024038 / DA / NIDA NIH HHS / United States R01 DA027525 / DA / NIDA NIH HHS / United States DA024038 / DA / NIDA NIH HHS / United States / / Intramural NIH HHS / United States |