Congratulations to this year’s winner of ATS’ Poster of the Year featuring Dermorphin-SAP (Cat. #IT-12).
Horner KA, Logan M, Murray RC (2015) Ablation of the patch compartment reduces cocaine-induced stereotypy. Neuroscience 2015 Abstracts 506.23/M12. Society for Neuroscience, Chicago IL
Be sure to check out the featured article in Targeting Trends.
Repeated exposure to cocaine (COC) induces stereotypy, which is characterized as inflexible, repetitive behavior. Enhanced relative activation of the patch compartment of the striatum has been shown to positively correlate with the emergence of stereotypy following repeated COC treatment, suggesting that stereotypy may be related to preferential activation of this region. However, the specific contribution of the patch compartment to COC-induced stereotypy following repeated exposure is unknown. To elucidate the involvement of the patch compartment to the development of stereotypy in response to repeated COC exposure, we determined if destruction of this sub-region altered COC-induced behaviors. Animals were bilaterally infused in the striatum with the neurotoxin dermorphin-saporin (DERM-SAP; 17 ng/[[Unsupported Character – Symbol Font ]]l) to ablate the neurons of the patch compartment and allowed to recover for eight days. The animals were given daily injections of COC (25 mg/kg) or saline for one week, followed by a weeklong drug-free period. Animals were then given a challenge dose of COC, placed in activity chambers, observed for 2h and sacrificed. DERM-SAP pretreatment reduced the number of mu-labeled patches in the striatum. DERM-SAP pretreatment significantly reduced the intensity and spatial immobility of COC-induced stereotypy. In support of this observation, increased locomotor activity was seen in DERM-SAP pretreated, COC-treated animals. DERM-SAP pretreatment attenuated COC-induced c-Fos expression in the patch compartment, while enhancing COC-induced c-Fos expression in the matrix compartment. These data indicate that the patch compartment is necessary for repetitive behavior and suggests that alterations in activity in the patch vs matrix compartments may contribute to this phenomenon.