Neuroligin-3 in dopaminergic circuits promotes behavioural and neurobiological adaptations to chronic morphine exposure.

ABSTRACT: Chronic opioid exposure causes structural and functional changes in brain circuits, which may contribute to opioid use disorders. Synaptic cell-adhesion molecules are prime candidates for mediating this opioid-evoked plasticity. Neuroligin-3 (NL3) is an X-linked postsynaptic adhesion protein that shapes synaptic function at multiple sites in the mesolimbic dopamine system. We therefore studied how genetic knockout of NL3 alters responses to chronic morphine in male mice. Constitutive NL3 knockout caused a persistent reduction in psychomotor sensitization after chronic morphine exposure and change in the topography of locomotor stimulation produced by morphine. This latter change was recapitulated by conditional genetic deletion of NL3 from cells expressing the Drd1 dopamine receptor, where

SUBMITTER: Brandner DD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9803875 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature