Neuropeptide Y infusion into the shell region of the rat nucleus accumbens increases extracellular levels of dopamine.
Increases in extracellular dopamine in the shell region of the nucleus accumbens are centrally involved in mediating reinforcement of addictive drugs. Neuropeptide Y (NPY) and its receptors are present in the nucleus accumbens and have been implicated in addiction mechanisms. This study further explored the potential role of NPY in addiction mechanisms using microdialysis to measure extracellular dopamine in vivo after infusion of NPY directly into the accumbal shell region of adult rats. NPY was found to dose-dependently increase extracellular dopamine levels, indicating that NPY could play an important role in drug reinforcement by modulating accumbal dopamine levels
Sørensen
Gunnar
G
Laboratory of Neuropsychiatry, Copenhagen Mental Health Center Rigshospitalet, and Department of Neuroscience and Pharmacology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Wegener
Gregers
G
Hasselstrøm
Jørgen
J
Hansen
Thomas V O
TV
Wörtwein
Gitta
G
Fink-Jensen
Anders
A
Woldbye
David P D
DP
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D019540:Area Under Curve; D002404:Catheterization; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid; D004298:Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism*; D005110:Extracellular Space / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D017551:Microdialysis; D009478:Neuropeptide Y / Q000378:metabolism*; D009714:Nucleus Accumbens / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry
D009478:Neuropeptide Y; D004298:Dopamine