Amphetamine or cocaine limits the ability of later experience to promote structural plasticity in the neocortex and nucleus accumbens.
Drugs of abuse and many other kinds of experiences share the ability to alter the morphology of neuronal dendrites and spines, the primary site of excitatory synapses in the brain. We hypothesized, therefore, that exposure to psychostimulant drugs might influence later experience-dependent structural plasticity. We tested this hypothesis by treating rats repeatedly with amphetamine or cocaine and then housing them in either a complex environment or standard laboratory cages for 3-3.5 mo. The brains were processed for Golgi-Cox staining, and the number of dendritic branches and the density of dendritic spines on medium spiny neurons in the nucleus accumbens and pyramidal cells in the parietal cortex were quantified. On most measures, prior treatment with amphetamine or cocaine interfered with the ability of experience in a complex environment to increase dendritic arborization and spine density. We conclude that in some brain regions, repeated exposure to psychomotor-stimulant drugs limits the ability of later experience to produce this form of synaptic plasticity, which may contribute to the persistent behavioral and cognitive deficits associated with drug abuse.
Kolb
Bryan
B
Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, Canada T1K 3M4. kolb@uleth.ca
Gorny
Grazyna
G
Li
Yilin
Y
Samaha
Anne-Noël
AN
Robinson
Terry E
TE
D000661:Amphetamine / Q000633:toxicity*; D000818:Animals; D003042:Cocaine / Q000633:toxicity*; D003712:Dendrites / Q000187:drug effects; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005260:Female; D016222:Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 / Q000502:physiology; D019579:Neocortex / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000187:drug effects*; D009714:Nucleus Accumbens / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013569:Synapses / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology
D016222:Fibroblast Growth Factor 2; D000661:Amphetamine; D003042:Cocaine