Neuroadaptive changes in the mesoaccumbens dopamine system after chronic nicotine self-administration: A microdialysis study
Section snippets
Animals
Adult male Long-Evans rats (275–300 g; Charles River, Lachine, PQ, Canada) were used in this study. Rats were singly housed in a reversed light/dark cycle colony room (lights off between 07:00 h and 19:00 h) and maintained in a constant temperature and humidity controlled animal facility with food and water available ad libitum. Animal care and experimental procedures were carried out in compliance with the guidelines of the Canadian Council on Animal Care (compatible with NIH guidelines), and
Nicotine infusions in different sessions
Five to six nicotine infusions in a given session were considered the criteria for acquisition of nicotine self-administration in this study (Corrigall et al., 1992, 1994). In fact, very few animals (one to two) failed to meet these criteria. Therefore, only those rats that acquired self-administration and had correct probe placements (see below) were included in this study. The number of infusions/session (mean±S.E.M.) in nicotine self-administration (n=20) and yoked nicotine (n=12) groups
Discussion
The important findings in this study are i) the basal extracellular DA levels in the ACB are reduced after abstinence from nicotine self-administration (Figs. 2 and 3A); ii) the extracellular DA levels and in vivo extraction fractions in the yoked nicotine groups are not significantly different from the nicotine self-administration group (Figs. 2 and 3B). Similarly, a reduction in basal DA levels was also evident in the difference in baseline levels observed in the conventional microdialysis
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Dr. William J. McBride for his advice and critical comments on the manuscript and Dr. Richard J. Thielen for help in statistical analysis. This research was supported by NIH/NIDA grant DA 09577.
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Present address: Corrigall Consulting, Thornhill, Ontario, Canada.