title: The effects of morphine treatment on the NCAM and its signaling in the MLDS of rats.
abstract: Prolonged exposure to opiates induces a constellation of neuroadaptations, especially in the mesolimbic dopamine system (MLDS), which leads to alteration in the function of motivational circuitry. The neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) mediates cell-cell interactions and plays an important role in processes associated with neural plasticity. Moreover, it has been shown that NCAM were related to risk of alcoholism in human populations. Here, coimmunoprecipitation and western blotting were used to investigate whether morphine treatment induced alteration of the expression of NCAM or its signaling level in MLDS. The rats receiving escalating dose of morphine treatment were divided into three groups: morphine 1d, 3d and 5d group, which were injected subcutaneously with morphine hydrochloride for 1 day, 3 days and 5 days, respectively. Twelve hours after the last injection, animals were sacrificed and the tissues of ventral tegmental area (VTA), prefrontal cortex (PFC) and nucleus accumbens (NAc) were punched out to examine the expression of NCAM or its signaling level. The results showed that morphine treatment had no significant effect on the expression of NCAM, but downregulated the phosphorylation of NCAM-associated focal adhesion kinase (FAK) in the VTA and PFC of rats. In the NAc of rats, however, the expression of NCAM and its signaling were not altered significantly by morphine treatment. These results indicated that the downregulation of NCAM signaling in the VTA and PFC might be involved in the formation of morphine addiction.
authors.affiliation: a Jiangsu Province Key Laboratory of Anesthesiology and.|b Jiangsu Province Key Laboratory of Anesthesia and Analgesia Application Technology, Xuzhou Medical College , Xuzhou , Jiangsu , China.
authors.forename: Jun Ping
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: a Jiangsu Province Key Laboratory of Anesthesiology and.|b Jiangsu Province Key Laboratory of Anesthesia and Analgesia Application Technology, Xuzhou Medical College , Xuzhou , Jiangsu , China.
authors.forename: Hong Jun
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: a Jiangsu Province Key Laboratory of Anesthesiology and.|b Jiangsu Province Key Laboratory of Anesthesia and Analgesia Application Technology, Xuzhou Medical College , Xuzhou , Jiangsu , China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: a Jiangsu Province Key Laboratory of Anesthesiology and.|b Jiangsu Province Key Laboratory of Anesthesia and Analgesia Application Technology, Xuzhou Medical College , Xuzhou , Jiangsu , China.
authors.forename: Su Ming
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015153:Blotting, Western; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D047468:Immunoprecipitation; D007279:Injections, Subcutaneous; D008297:Male; D009020:Morphine / Q000633:toxicity*; D019006:Neural Cell Adhesion Molecules / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D009714:Nucleus Accumbens / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D010766:Phosphorylation; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D015398:Signal Transduction; D017557:Ventral Tegmental Area / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D019006:Neural Cell Adhesion Molecules; D009020:Morphine
keywords: FAK; NCAM; Ventral tegmental area; morphine; nucleus accumbens; prefrontal cortex