Upregulation of nerve growth factor in central amygdala increases sensitivity to opioid reward.

ABSTRACT: The rewarding properties of opioids are essential driving force for compulsive drug-seeking and drug-taking behaviors in the development of opioid-mediated drug addiction. Prior drug use enhances sensitivity to the rewarding effects of subsequently used drugs, increasing vulnerability to relapse. The molecular mechanisms underlying this reward sensitization are still unclear. We report here that morphine that induced reward sensitization, as demonstrated by reinstatement of the behavior of conditioned place preference (CPP) with sub-threshold priming morphine, epigenetically upregulated the output activity of Ngf encoding the nerve growth factor (NGF) by increasing histone H4 acetylation in the rat central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA). NGF locally infused into the CeA mimicked the morphin

SUBMITTER: Bie B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3499709 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature