Somatosensory cortices are required for the acquisition of morphine-induced conditioned place preference.
BACKGROUND
Sensory system information is thought to play an important role in drug addiction related responses. However, how somatic sensory information participates in the drug related behaviors is still unclear. Many studies demonstrated that drug addiction represents a pathological usurpation of neural mechanisms of learning and memory that normally relate to the pursuit of rewards. Thus, elucidate the role of somatic sensory in drug related learning and memory is of particular importance to understand the neurobiological mechanisms of drug addiction.


RESULTS
In the present study, we investigated the role of somatosensory system in reward-related associative learning using the conditioned place preference model. Lesions were made in somatosensory cortices either before or after conditioning training. We found that lesion of somatosensory cortices before, rather than after morphine conditioning impaired the acquisition of place preference.


CONCLUSIONS
These results demonstrate that somatosensory cortices are necessary for the acquisition but not retention of morphine induced place preference.
Meng
Zhiqiang
Z
Laboratory of Sensory-motor Integration Research, Kunming Institute of Zoology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, People's Republic of China.
Liu
Chang
C
Hu
Xintian
X
Ma
Yuanye
Y
D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological / Q000187:drug effects; D004566:Electrodes; D008297:Male; D023421:Models, Animal; D009020:Morphine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012201:Reward; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders
D009020:Morphine