Drug-Paired Contextual Stimuli Increase Dendritic Spine Dynamics in Select Nucleus Accumbens Neurons.

ABSTRACT: Repeated exposure to amphetamine leads to both associative conditioning and nonassociative sensitization. Here we assessed the contribution of neuronal ensembles in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) to these behaviors. Animals exposed to amphetamine IP or in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) showed a sensitized locomotor response when challenged with amphetamine weeks later. Both exposure routes also increased ΔFosB levels in the NAcc. Further characterization of these ΔFosB+ neurons, however, revealed that amphetamine had no effect on dendritic spine density or size, indicating that these neurons do not undergo changes in dendritic spine morphology that accompany the expression of nonassociative sensitization. Additional experiments determined how neurons in the NAcc contribute to the expressio

SUBMITTER: Singer BF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4908651 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature