Dissociations between the effects of intra-accumbens administration of amphetamine and exposure to a novel environment on accumbens dopamine and cortical acetylcholine release.
Previous research has demonstrated an interaction between the effects of amphetamine and exposure to a novel environment on the activity of neurons in the nucleus accumbens. Given a model in which these accumbens efferents gate the excitability of basal forebrain cholinergic corticopetal neurons, the administration of intra-accumbens amphetamine was hypothesized to potentiate the increase in cortical acetylcholine produced by introduction to a novel environment. Dual probe microdialysis revealed no synergistic interactions between exposure to a novel environment and amphetamine on nucleus accumbens dopamine or cortical acetylcholine efflux. This finding indicates that exposure to a novel environment failed to recruit the telencephalic activation of the nucleus accumbens presumably necessary to reveal modulatory effects of accumbens dopaminergic transmission on cortical acetylcholine release.
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Neuroscience Graduate Studies Program, The Ohio State University, Columbus 43210, USA.
G N
GN
Neigh
H M
HM
Arnold
M
M
Sarter
J P
JP
Bruno
D000109:Acetylcholine / Q000378:metabolism*; D000661:Amphetamine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000818:Animals; D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D004298:Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism*; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000187:drug effects; D008297:Male; D017551:Microdialysis; D009714:Nucleus Accumbens / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D011914:Rats, Inbred BN; D011916:Rats, Inbred F344
D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants; D000661:Amphetamine; D000109:Acetylcholine; D004298:Dopamine