Cocaine Self-Administration and Extinction Leads to Reduced Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein Expression and Morphometric Features of Astrocytes in the Nucleus Accumbens Core.

ABSTRACT:

Background

As a more detailed picture of nervous system function emerges, diversity of astrocyte function becomes more widely appreciated. While it has been shown that cocaine experience impairs astroglial glutamate uptake and release in the nucleus accumbens (NAc), few studies have explored effects of self-administration on the structure and physiology of astrocytes. We investigated the effects of extinction from daily cocaine self-administration on astrocyte characteristics including glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) expression, surface area, volume, and colocalization with a synaptic marker.

Methods

Cocaine or saline self-administration and extinction were paired with GFAP Westerns, immunohistochemistry, and fluorescent imaging of NAc core astrocytes (30 saline-admin

SUBMITTER: Scofield MD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4930433 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature