Heterozygote Dopamine Transporter Knockout Rats Display Enhanced Cocaine Locomotion in Adolescent Females.

ABSTRACT: Cocaine is a powerful psychostimulant that is one of the most widely used illicit addictive. The dopamine transporter (DAT) plays a major role in mediating cocaine's reward effect. Decreases in DAT expression increase rates of drug abuse and vulnerability to comorbid psychiatric disorders. We used the novel DAT transgenic rat model to study the effects of cocaine on locomotor behaviors in adolescent rats, with an emphasis on sex. Female rats showed higher response rates to cocaine at lower acute and chronic doses, highlighting a higher vulnerability and perceived gender effects. In contrast, locomotor responses to an acute high dose of cocaine were more marked and sustained in male DAT heterozygous (HET) adolescents. The results demonstrate the augmented effects of chronic cocaine in HET D

SUBMITTER: Pardo M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9736933 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature