Investigating the effect of Arvcf reveals an essential role on regulating the mesolimbic dopamine signaling-mediated nicotine reward.

ABSTRACT: The mesolimbic dopamine system is crucial for drug reinforcement and reward learning, leading to addiction. We previously demonstrated that Arvcf was associated significantly with nicotine and alcohol addiction through genome-wide association studies. However, the role and mechanisms of Arvcf in dopamine-mediated drug reward processes were largely unknown. In this study, we first showed that Arvcf mediates nicotine-induced reward behavior by using conditioned place preference (CPP) model on Arvcf-knockout (Arvcf-KO) animal model. Then, we revealed that Arvcf was mainly expressed in VTA dopaminergic neurons whose expression could be upregulated by nicotine treatment. Subsequently, our SnRNA-seq analysis revealed that Arvcf was directly involved in dopamine biosynthesis in VTA dopaminergic n

SUBMITTER: Wang Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11906728 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature