The role of cystine-glutamate exchange in nicotine dependence in rats and humans.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The present study determined if, akin to cocaine, nicotine self-administration in rats induces adaptations in the expression of glutamate transporters and cystine-glutamate exchangers in brain nuclei implicated in reinforcement and if treating cigarette smokers with a drug that restores cystine-glutamate exchange affects the number of cigarettes smoked.

Methods

Rats self-administered nicotine intravenously for 12 hours/day or received nicotine through osmotic minipumps for 21 days. Somatic signs of withdrawal were measured and immunoblotting was performed 12 hours after the last nicotine exposure to determine if the catalytic subunit of the cystine-glutamate exchanger, xCT, or the glial glutamate transporter, GLT-1, were altered in the ventral tegmental area (VTA)

SUBMITTER: Knackstedt LA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2756612 | biostudies-literature | 2009 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature