Experimental Traumatic Brain Injury during Adolescence Enhances Cocaine Rewarding Efficacy and Dysregulates Dopamine and Neuroimmune Systems in Brain Reward Substrates.

ABSTRACT: Although clinical studies identify traumatic brain injury (TBI) as a risk factor for the development of substance use disorder, much remains unknown about the possible underlying pathogenesis and age-specific effects. Thus, the aim of this study is to test the hypothesis that at an age of ongoing maturation, adolescent TBI alters elements of the reward pathway, resulting in increased sensitivity to the rewarding effects of a subthreshold dose of cocaine that does not induce significant behavioral changes in naïve, non-injured mice. Specifically, these results were derived from the combination of the controlled cortical impact model of TBI, performed on either adolescent (6 weeks) or young adult (8 weeks) mice, followed by the cocaine-induced conditioned place preference assay 2 weeks later

SUBMITTER: Cannella LA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6921296 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature