Abstract
Neonatal quinpirole (NQ) treatment to rats increases dopamine D2 receptor sensitivity persistent throughout the animal’s lifetime. In Experiment 1, we analyzed the role of α7 and α4β2 nicotinic receptors (nAChRs) in nicotine behavioral sensitization and on the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) response to nicotine in NQ- and neonatally saline (NS)-treated rats. In Experiment 2, we analyzed changes in α7 and α4β2 nAChR density in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and dorsal striatum in NQ and NS animals sensitized to nicotine. Male and female Sprague-Dawley rats were neonatally treated with quinpirole (1 mg/kg) or saline from postnatal days (P)1–21. Animals were given ip injections of either saline or nicotine (0.5 mg/kg free base) every second day from P33 to P49 and tested on behavioral sensitization. Before each injection, animals were ip administered the α7 nAChR antagonist methyllycaconitine (MLA; 2 or 4 mg/kg) or the α4β2 nAChR antagonist dihydro beta erythroidine (DhβE; 1 or 3 mg/kg).
Results revealed NQ enhanced nicotine sensitization that was blocked by DhβE. MLA blocked the enhanced nicotine sensitization in NQ animals, but did not block nicotine sensitization. NQ enhanced the NAcc BDNF response to nicotine which was blocked by both antagonists. In Experiment 2, NQ enhanced nicotine sensitization and enhanced α4β2, but not 7, nAChR upregulation in the NAcc. These results suggest a relationship between accumbal BDNF and α4β2 nAChRs and their role in the behavioral response to nicotine in the NQ model which has relevance to schizophrenia, a behavioral disorder with high rates of tobacco smoking.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-15-2017
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2017.02.029
Funding Information
This study was supported by NIH 1R15DA034912-A1 to RWB.
Repository Citation
Peterson, Daniel J.; Gill, W. Drew; Dose, John M.; Hoover, Donald B.; Pauly, James R.; Cummins, Elizabeth D.; Burgess, Katherine C.; and Brown, Russell W., "The Effects of Nicotine in the Neonatal Quinpirole Rodent Model of Psychosis: Neural Plasticity Mechanisms and Nicotinic Receptor Changes" (2017). Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications. 120.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/ps_facpub/120
Included in
Experimental Analysis of Behavior Commons, Neuroscience and Neurobiology Commons, Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Commons
Notes/Citation Information
Published in Behavioural Brain Research, v. 325, part A, p. 17-24.
© 2017 Published by Elsevier B.V.
This manuscript version is made available under the CC‐BY‐NC‐ND 4.0 license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
The document available for download is the author's post-peer-review final draft of the article.