Repeated exposure to methamphetamine, cocaine or morphine induces augmentation of dopamine release in rat mesocorticolimbic slice co-cultures.

ABSTRACT: Repeated intermittent exposure to psychostimulants and morphine leads to progressive augmentation of its locomotor activating effects in rodents. Accumulating evidence suggests the critical involvement of the mesocorticolimbic dopaminergic neurons, which project from the ventral tegmental area to the nucleus accumbens and the medial prefrontal cortex, in the behavioral sensitization. Here, we examined the acute and chronic effects of psychostimulants and morphine on dopamine release in a reconstructed mesocorticolimbic system comprised of a rat triple organotypic slice co-culture of the ventral tegmental area, nucleus accumbens and medial prefrontal cortex regions. Tyrosine hydroxylase-positive cell bodies were localized in the ventral tegmental area, and their neurites projected to the nu

SUBMITTER: Nakagawa T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3184101 | biostudies-literature | 2011

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature