Fos after single and repeated self-administration of cocaine and saline in the rat: emphasis on the Basal forebrain and recalibration of expression.
The effects of addictive psychostimulant drugs on the brain change over repeated administrations. We evaluated a large sample of brain structures, particularly ones comprising basal forebrain macrosystems, and determined in which the immediate-early gene product, Fos, is expressed following a single and repeated self-administrations of cocaine. The caudate-putamen and accumbens, comprising the basal ganglia input structures, and the hypothalamic supraoptic and paraventricular nuclei, lateral and medial habenula, mesopontine rostromedial tegmental nucleus and anterior cingulate cortex exhibited Fos expression enhanced by acute self-administration of cocaine (SAC), but desensitized after repeated administrations. Fos expression was mainly enhanced by acutely self-administered cocaine in basal ganglia output and intrinsic structures and the intermediate nucleus of lateral septum, medial division of the central amygdaloid nucleus and zona incerta, but, in contrast, was sensitized in these structures after repeated administrations. Acute and repeated SAC left Fos expression unaffected or marginally enhanced in most extended amygdala structures, of which nearly all, however, exhibited robustly increased Fos expression after repeated saline self-administration, occasionally to levels exceeding those elicited by cocaine. Thus, self-administered cocaine mainly elicits Fos expression, which persists or increases with repeated administrations in some structures, but declines in others. In addition, Fos expression is sensitized in most extended amygdala structures merely by the act of repeated self-administering. Similar spatiotemporal patterns of cocaine- or saline-elicited Fos expression characterize functionally related clusters of structures, such as, eg, basal ganglia input structures, basal ganglia output structures, extended amygdala and structures in the brainstem to which forebrain macrosystems project.
Department of Pharmacological and Physiological Science, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO 63104, USA. zahmds@slu.edu
Daniel S
DS
Zahm
Mary L
ML
Becker
Alexander J
AJ
Freiman
Sara
S
Strauch
Beth
B
Degarmo
Stefanie
S
Geisler
Gloria E
GE
Meredith
Michela
M
Marinelli
D000818:Animals; D002452:Cell Count / Q000379:methods; D003042:Cocaine / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D003216:Conditioning, Operant / Q000187:drug effects; D018765:Dopamine Uptake Inhibitors / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000187:drug effects; D008297:Male; D009716:Numerical Analysis, Computer-Assisted; D016761:Oncogene Proteins v-fos / Q000378:metabolism*; D016548:Prosencephalon / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012646:Self Administration / Q000379:methods; D013997:Time Factors
D018765:Dopamine Uptake Inhibitors; D016761:Oncogene Proteins v-fos; D003042:Cocaine