Role of a Lateral Orbital Frontal Cortex-Basolateral Amygdala Circuit in Cue-Induced Cocaine-Seeking Behavior.

ABSTRACT: Cocaine addiction is a disease characterized by chronic relapse despite long periods of abstinence. The lateral orbitofrontal cortex (lOFC) and basolateral amygdala (BLA) promote cocaine-seeking behavior in response to drug-associated conditioned stimuli (CS) and share dense reciprocal connections. Hence, we hypothesized that monosynaptic projections between these brain regions mediate CS-induced cocaine-seeking behavior. Male Sprague-Dawley rats received bilateral infusions of a Cre-dependent adeno-associated viral (AAV) vector expressing enhanced halorhodopsin 3.0 fused with a reporter protein (NpHR-mCherry) or a control AAV (mCherry) plus optic fiber implants into the lOFC (Experiment 1) or BLA (Experiment 2). The same rats also received bilateral infusions of a retrogradely transported

SUBMITTER: Arguello AA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5240178 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature