WWW.JNEUROSCI.ORG
-
The Journal of Neuroscience
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     
-


HOME  |   SEARCH  |   ARCHIVE  |   SUBSCRIBE  |   CONTACT  |   HELP
The Journal of Neuroscience, September 14, 2005, 25(37):8407-8415; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1910-05.2005

This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Submit an eLetter
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Web of Science (8)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Uslaner, J. M.
Right arrow Articles by Robinson, T. E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Uslaner, J. M.
Right arrow Articles by Robinson, T. E.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
Subthalamic Nucleus Lesions Enhance the Psychomotor-Activating, Incentive Motivational, and Neurobiological Effects of Cocaine

Jason M. Uslaner, Pengwei Yang, and Terry E. Robinson

Biopsychology and Neuroscience Programs, Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48019-1109

The subthalamic nucleus (STN) is traditionally thought to be involved in motor control, and dysfunction of the STN is thought to contribute to movement disorders. Here, we show that the STN also plays an important role in motivational processes and the response to drugs of abuse. Specifically, bilateral STN lesions produced a dose-dependent increase in the psychomotor-activating effects of cocaine, the rate at which animals acquired cocaine self-administration, and the motivation for cocaine assessed using a progressive ratio schedule. Furthermore, bilateral STN lesions enhanced the ability of cocaine to induce gene expression in the nucleus accumbens and caudate–putamen, two structures known to be involved in mediating the psychomotor-activating and incentive motivational effects of drugs of abuse. These findings suggest that engagement of the STN serves to dampen the psychomotor-activating and incentive motivational effects of drugs of abuse. Thus, the STN may serve as a novel target for therapeutic interventions aimed at treating drug dependence.

Key words: nucleus accumbens; caudate–putamen; c-fos; progressive ratio; acquisition; self-administration

Received May 12, 2005; revised August 2, 2005; accepted August 2, 2005.






 -
-

Home  |   Search  |   Archive  |   Subscribe  |   Contact  |   Help
-
Copyright 2009 by Society for Neuroscience ONLINE ISSN: 1529-2401
-