Acute nicotine enhances c-fos mRNA expression differentially in reward-related substrates of adolescent and adult rat brain.
A number of studies have demonstrated that adolescent rodents are more sensitive to the rewarding effects of nicotine compared to adults. To help determine the potential brain circuitry involved, we investigated the effect of acute nicotine administration (0.4 or 0.8mg/kg, s.c.) on the expression of c-fos mRNA in the brains of adolescent (P35) and adult (P67-70) male Wistar rats using in situ hybridization. Nicotine administration increased c-fos mRNA expression in several brain regions, including the central amygdala, locus coeruleus, nucleus accumbens core, paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus and lateral septum of adolescent and adult rats. Nicotine increased c-fos mRNA expression more robustly in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, nucleus accumbens shell and ventral tegmental area in adolescent rats. The current results suggest that nicotine may have greater activational effects in brain regions associated with reward in adolescent rats and may help to explain the differences between adolescents and adults in behavioral responses to nicotine.
Shram
Megan J
MJ
Department of Neuroscience, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario Canada M5S 2S1. megan_shram@camh.net
Funk
Douglas
D
Li
Zhaoxia
Z
Lê
A D
AD
D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D003216:Conditioning, Operant / Q000187:drug effects; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000187:drug effects*; D016762:Genes, fos / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D009538:Nicotine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018722:Nicotinic Agonists / Q000494:pharmacology*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012201:Reward
D018722:Nicotinic Agonists; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D009538:Nicotine