Repeated cocaine injections have no influence on tyrosine hydroxylase activity in the rat nucleus accumbens core or shell

Numerous reports have demonstrated augmented cocaine-evoked release of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens of rats pre-treated with cocaine. However, the extent to which repeated cocaine injections affect basal levels of dopamine is unclear. There have been reports of increases, decreases, or no chang...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Brain research 2004-06, Vol.1012 (1), p.119-126
Main Authors: Licata, Stephanie C., Pierce, R.Christopher
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Aromatic Amino Acid Decarboxylase Inhibitors
Biological and medical sciences
Cocaine
Cocaine - administration & dosage
Dihydroxyphenylalanine - metabolism
DOPA
Dopa Decarboxylase - metabolism
Drug addictions
Enzyme Activation - drug effects
Enzyme Activation - physiology
Enzyme Inhibitors - pharmacology
Injections, Intraperitoneal
Male
Medical sciences
Microdialysis
Nucleus accumbens
Nucleus Accumbens - drug effects
Nucleus Accumbens - enzymology
Rat
Rats
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Toxicology
Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase - antagonists & inhibitors
Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase - metabolism
Tyrosine hydroxylase
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Summary:Numerous reports have demonstrated augmented cocaine-evoked release of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens of rats pre-treated with cocaine. However, the extent to which repeated cocaine injections affect basal levels of dopamine is unclear. There have been reports of increases, decreases, or no change in basal levels of extracellular accumbal dopamine resulting from repeated psychostimulant administration. The present study assessed the activity of tyrosine hydroxylase, the rate-limiting enzyme in dopamine synthesis, in the nucleus accumbens following either acute or repeated cocaine administration. The in vivo microdialysis technique was used to measure accumulation of the dopamine precursor DOPA following intra-accumbal administration of the DOPA decarboxylase inhibitor NSD 1015 through the microdialysis probe. This method provides an estimate of tyrosine hydroxylase activity within the nucleus accumbens. Results indicate that neither acute nor repeated cocaine administration produced any change in DOPA accumulation in either the nucleus accumbens shell or core. These data indicate that dopamine synthesis is not altered by cocaine administration.
ISSN:0006-8993
1872-6240
DOI:10.1016/j.brainres.2004.03.043