Pre- and postsynaptic dopamine mechanisms after repeated nicotine: effects of adrenalectomy

The reinforcing properties of nicotine may be related to its ability to release dopamine in the nucleus accumbens and to increase locomotor activity in experimental animals. Both these effects are sensitized following repeated drug exposure, a phenomenon that may underlie important aspects of addiction. Adrenal steroids may be involved both in positive reinforcement and in sensitization. Adrenalectomy hampers, e.g., the induction of locomotor sensitization to nicotine, and cross-sensitization between stress and psychostimulants may develop. Here, the effect of adrenalectomy on postsynaptic and presynaptic changes of the mesolimbic dopamine system in association with nicotine sensitization was examined. Adrenalectomy or sham-operated rats received daily nicotine (0.4 mg/kg s.c.) or vehicle for 15 days, after which the locomotor responses to nicotine (0.2 mg/kg s.c.) and the dopamine D1/D2 receptor agonist apomorphine (1.0 mg/kg s.c. or 100 microM in the nucleus accumbens by reversed microdialysis) were recorded. In addition, accumbal dopamine output was monitored by in vivo microdialysis after nicotine challenge. Sham/nicotine animals showed a sensitized locomotor response to systemic and local apomorphine compared to all other groups, including the adrenalectomized/nicotine group. Nicotine increased accumbal dopamine output in all animals. In contrast, nicotine induced a pronounced increase in locomotor activity in the sham/nicotine animals compared to the other vehicle group and the adrenalectomized animals. These results indicate that adrenal steroids are involved in the induction of the postsynaptic component of nicotine sensitization, whereas their involvement in tentative presynaptic changes remains unclear.