Acute “binge” cocaine increases mu-opioid receptor mRNA levels in areas of the rat mesolimbic mesocortical dopamine system |
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Authors: | Vadim Yuferov Yan Zhou Rudolph Spangler Christopher E Maggos Ann Ho Mary Jeanne Kreek |
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Institution: | a Laboratory of the Biology of Addictive Diseases, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA |
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Abstract: | Autoradiography studies demonstrated that chronic “binge” cocaine administration increased mu-opioid receptor density in dopaminergically innervated rat brain regions, including the cingulate cortex, the nucleus accumbens, and the basolateral amygdala. The present study investigated the effects of a single day of binge-pattern cocaine administration (3 × 15 mg/kg, intraperitoneally i.p.] at hourly intervals) on mu-opioid receptor mRNA levels in selected brain regions. Rats were sacrificed 30 min after the third injection and mRNA levels were measured by a quantitative solution hybridization RNase protection assay. Acute binge cocaine administration significantly increased mu-opioid receptor mRNA levels in the frontal cortex, nucleus accumbens, and amygdala, but not in the caudate-putamen, thalamus, hippocampus, and hypothalamus. As has been suggested for other G-protein coupled receptors, the rapid increase of MOR mRNA reported in this study might represent an adaptive response to compensate for a decrease in number of receptors following cocaine-induced opioid peptide release. |
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Keywords: | dopaminergic system limbic cortex mu opiate receptor messenger RNA cocaine |
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