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Overexpression of ASIC1A in the nucleus accumbens of rats potentiates cocaine‐seeking behavior
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Overexpression of ASIC1A in the nucleus accumbens of rats potentiates cocaine‐seeking behavior

Andrea L Gutman, Caitlin V Cosme, Maria F Noterman, Wensday R Worth, John A Wemmie and Ryan T LaLumiere
Addiction biology, Vol.25(2), pp.e12690-n/a
03/2020
DOI: 10.1111/adb.12690
PMCID: PMC9092352
PMID: 30397978
url
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/9092352View
Open Access

Abstract

Acid‐sensing ion channels (ASICs) are abundantly expressed in the nucleus accumbens core (NAcore), a region of the mesolimbocortical system that has an established role in regulating drug‐seeking behavior. Previous work shows that a single dose of cocaine reduced the AMPA‐to‐NMDA ratio in Asic1a−/− mice, an effect observed after withdrawal in wild‐type mice, whereas ASIC1A overexpression in the NAcore of rats decreases cocaine self‐administration. However, whether ASIC1A overexpression in the NAcore alters measures of drug‐seeking behavior after the self‐administration period is unknown. To examine this issue, the ASIC1A subunit was overexpressed in male Sprague‐Dawley rats by injecting them with adeno‐associated virus, targeted at the NAcore, after completion of 2 weeks of cocaine or food self‐administration. After 21 days of homecage abstinence, rats underwent a cue‐/context‐driven drug/food‐seeking test, followed by extinction training and then drug/food‐primed, cued, and cued + drug/food‐primed reinstatement tests. The results indicate that ASIC1A overexpression in the NAcore enhanced cue‐/context‐driven cocaine seeking, cocaine‐primed reinstatement, and cued + cocaine‐primed reinstatement but had no effect on food‐seeking behavior, indicating a selective effect for ASIC1A in the processes underlying extinction and cocaine‐seeking behavior. Acid‐sensing ion channels 1A (ASIC1A) were overexpressed in the nucleus accumbens of rats after 2 weeks of cocaine self‐administration. Following 21 days of homecage abstinence, rats overexpressing ASIC1A showed enhanced cue‐/context‐driven cocaine‐seeking behavior. After undergoing extinction training, rats overexpressing ASIC1A showed enhanced cocaine‐primed and cued + cocaine‐primed reinstatement.
abstinence withdrawal reinstatement self‐administration incubation

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