Paradoxical augmented relapse in alcohol-dependent rats during deep-brain stimulation in the nucleus accumbens.

ABSTRACT: Case reports indicate that deep-brain stimulation in the nucleus accumbens may be beneficial to alcohol-dependent patients. The lack of clinical trials and our limited knowledge of deep-brain stimulation call for translational experiments to validate these reports. To mimic the human situation, we used a chronic-continuous brain-stimulation paradigm targeting the nucleus accumbens and other brain sites in alcohol-dependent rats. To determine the network effects of deep-brain stimulation in alcohol-dependent rats, we combined electrical stimulation of the nucleus accumbens with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and studied neurotransmitter levels in nucleus accumbens-stimulated versus sham-stimulated rats. Surprisingly, we report here that electrical stimulation of the nucleus a

SUBMITTER: Hadar R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4931598 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature