Abstract
Background: Early exposure to enriched environments has been shown to decrease the locomotor effects induced by repeated injections of cocaine and modify basal and cocaine-induced total protein levels of the transcription factor ΔFosB in the whole striatum of mice. In this study, we aimed at characterizing whether the profile of ΔFosB accumulation induced by enriched environments and cocaine would be similar or different in terms of brain areas and cell type.
Methods: We used mice expressing the eGFP protein in D1 receptor positive (D1R(+)) neurons to determine whether ΔFosB induced by enriched environment or cocaine injections (5×15 mg/kg) would occur in selective subpopulations of neurons in several subregions of the striatum and prefrontal cortex.
Results: We found that: (1) exposure to enriched environment reduces cocaine-induced locomotor activation, confirming our previous findings; (2) exposure to enriched environment by itself increases the accumulation of ΔFosB mostly in D1R(-) cells in the shell part of the nucleus accumbens and dorsal striatum, whereas in the nucleus accumbens core, ΔFosB accumulates in both D1R(+) and D1R(-) neurons; (3) in standard environment mice, cocaine induces accumulation of ΔFosB selectively in D1R(+) cells in the nucleus accumbens, dorsal striatum, and infralimbic cortex; and (4) the effects of enriched environments and cocaine on accumulation of ΔFosB were reciprocally blocked by their combination.
Conclusions: Altogether, these results suggest that the enriched environment-induced reduction in behavioral effects of cocaine might result from 2 distinct effects on ΔFosB in striatal medium-sized spiny neurons belonging to the direct and indirect pathways.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-1-2017
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1093/ijnp/pyw097
Funding Information
This work was supported by INSERM, University of Poitiers, Mission Interministérielle de la Lutte contre les Drogues et la Toxicomanie (MILDT-INSERM), and Région Poitou-Charentes. A. Lafragette is a recipient of a PhD fellowship from French ministry of research. M. T. Bardo was supported by the U.S. Public Health Service (grants nos. P50 DA 05312, R01 DA12964) and visiting professor grant from the “région Poitou-Charentes.”
Repository Citation
Lafragette, Audrey; Bardo, Michael T.; Lardeux, Virginie; Solinas, Marcello; and Thiriet, Nathalie, "Reduction of Cocaine-Induced Locomotor Effects by Enriched Environment Is Associated with Cell-Specific Accumulation of ΔFosB in Striatal and Cortical Subregions" (2017). Psychology Faculty Publications. 134.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/psychology_facpub/134
Supplementary Data
Notes/Citation Information
Published in International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology, v. 20, issue 3, p. 237-246.
© The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of CINP.
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