Acute in vivo nicotine administration enhances synchrony among dopamine neurons.

ABSTRACT: Altered functional interactions among midbrain dopamine (DA) neurons contribute to the reinforcing properties of environmental stimuli and addictive drugs. To examine correlations among DA neurons, acute nicotine was administrated to rats via an intraperitoneal catheter and unit activity was measured using multi-tetrode in vivo recordings. Nicotine administration enhanced the correlated activity of simultaneously recorded DA neurons from the ventral tegmental area (VTA). The strength of the correlations between DA neuron pairs, as measured by cross covariance among two spike trains, showed dynamic changes over time. Nicotine produced a gradual rise in firing rate and burst activity that reached a stable plateau approximately 20 min after the intraperitoneal nicotine infusion. Shortly after

SUBMITTER: Li W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3162092 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature