Double dissociation of the anterior and posterior dorsomedial caudate-putamen in the acquisition and expression of associative learning with the nicotine stimulus.

ABSTRACT: Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable deaths worldwide. This habit is not only debilitating to individual users but also to those around them (second-hand smoking). Nicotine is the main addictive component of tobacco products and is a moderate stimulant and a mild reinforcer. Importantly, besides its unconditional effects, nicotine also has conditioned stimulus effects that may contribute to the tenacity of the smoking habit. Because the neurobiological substrates underlying these processes are virtually unexplored, the present study investigated the functional involvement of the dorsomedial caudate putamen (dmCPu) in learning processes with nicotine as an interoceptive stimulus. Rats were trained using the discriminated goal-tracking task where nicotine injections (0.4 mg/kg; SC

SUBMITTER: Charntikov S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5509027 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature