title: Neurodegeneration of lateral habenula efferent fibers after intermittent cocaine administration: implications for deep brain stimulation.
abstract: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an emerging technique for effective, non-pharmacological intervention in the course of neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases. Several brain targets have been suggested as suitable for DBS treatment of drug addiction. Previously, we showed that DBS of the lateral habenula (LHb) can reduce cocaine intake, facilitate extinction and attenuate drug-induced relapse in rats trained to self-administrate cocaine. Herein, we demonstrated that cocaine self-administration dose-dependently decreased connectivity between the LHb and midbrain, as shown by neurodegeneration of the main LHb efferent fiber, the fasciculus retroflexus (FR). FR degeneration, in turn, may have caused lack of response to LHb stimulation in rats trained to self-administer high-dose cocaine (1.5 mg/kg; i.v.). Furthermore, we show that the micro-structural changes caused by cocaine can be non-invasively detected using magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion tensor imaging. Detection of cocaine-induced alterations in FR anatomy can aid the selection of potential responders to LHb stimulation for treatment of drug addiction.
authors.affiliation: The Mina & Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel.
authors.forename: Elad
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lax
authors.affiliation: The Leslie & Susan Gonda (Goldschmied) Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Friedman
authors.affiliation: The Mina & Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel.
authors.forename: Ofri
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Croitoru
authors.affiliation: The Mina & Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel.
authors.forename: Einav
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sudai
authors.affiliation: The Mina & Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel.
authors.forename: Hila
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ben-Moshe
authors.affiliation: The Leslie & Susan Gonda (Goldschmied) Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel.
authors.forename: Lior
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Redlus
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Science, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: Efrat
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sasson
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Science, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: Tamar
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Blumenfeld-Katzir
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Science, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: Yaniv
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Assaf
authors.affiliation: The Mina & Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel; The Leslie & Susan Gonda (Goldschmied) Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel. Electronic address: yadidg@mail.biu.ac.il.
authors.forename: Gal
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yadid
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002452:Cell Count; D003042:Cocaine / Q000008:administration & dosage; D019970:Cocaine-Related Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000209:etiology; D003216:Conditioning, Operant / Q000187:drug effects; D046690:Deep Brain Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D018765:Dopamine Uptake Inhibitors / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D058999:Drug-Seeking Behavior; D004525:Efferent Pathways / Q000473:pathology; D005108:Extinction, Psychological / Q000187:drug effects; D019262:Habenula / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009410:Nerve Degeneration / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D009412:Nerve Fibers / Q000473:pathology; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012646:Self Administration; D017557:Ventral Tegmental Area / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D018765:Dopamine Uptake Inhibitors; D003042:Cocaine
keywords: Cocaine addiction; Deep brain stimulation; Diffusion tensor imaging; Lateral habenula; Magnetic resonance imaging; Neurodegeneration; Retrograde labeling