Prolonged withdrawal from cocaine self-administration affects prefrontal cortex- and basolateral amygdala-nucleus accumbens core circuits but not accumbens GABAergic local interneurons.

ABSTRACT: Withdrawal from extended-access cocaine self-administration leads to progressive intensification ('incubation') of cocaine craving. After prolonged withdrawal (1-2 months), when craving is high, expression of incubation depends on strengthening of excitatory inputs to medium spiny neurons (MSN) of the nucleus accumbens (NAc). These excitatory inputs interact with the intra-NAc GABAergic 'microcircuit', composed of MSN axon collaterals and GABAergic interneurons. Here, we investigated whether the increased glutamatergic neurotransmission observed after prolonged withdrawal is accompanied by altered GABAergic neurotransmission, focusing on NAc core. Rats self-administered cocaine or saline (6 hours/day) and then underwent >40 days of withdrawal. First, we investigated parvalbumin positive (P

SUBMITTER: Purgianto A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5364065 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature