Ethanol seeking triggered by environmental context is attenuated by blocking dopamine D1 receptors in the nucleus accumbens core and shell in rats.Psychopharmacology (Berl). 25 Sep 2009
Conditioned behavioral responses to discrete drug-associated cues can be modulated by the environmental context in which those cues are experienced, a process that may facilitate relapse in humans. Rodent models of drug self-administration have been adapted to reveal the capacity of contexts to trigger drug seeking, thereby enabling neurobiological investigations of this effect.
We tested the hypothesis that dopamine transmission in the nucleus accumbens, a neural structure that mediates reinforcement, is necessary for context-induced reinstatement of responding for ethanol-associated cues.
We tested the hypothesis that dopamine transmission in the nucleus accumbens, a neural structure that mediates reinforcement, is necessary for context-induced reinstatement of responding for ethanol-associated cues.
These findings suggest a critical role for dopamine acting via D1 receptors in the nucleus accumbens in the reinstatement of responding for ethanol cues triggered by placement into an ethanol-associated context.
Request Reprint E-Mail: nchaudhri@gallo.ucsf.edu
___________________________________________________________________________
