Cocaine inverts rules for synaptic plasticity of glutamate transmission in the ventral tegmental area - PubMed (original) (raw)

doi: 10.1038/nn.2763. Epub 2011 Feb 20.

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Cocaine inverts rules for synaptic plasticity of glutamate transmission in the ventral tegmental area

Manuel Mameli et al. Nat Neurosci. 2011 Apr.

Abstract

The manner in which drug-evoked synaptic plasticity affects reward circuits remains largely elusive. We found that cocaine reduced NMDA receptor excitatory postsynaptic currents and inserted GluA2-lacking AMPA receptors in dopamine neurons of mice. Consequently, a stimulation protocol pairing glutamate release with hyperpolarizing current injections further strengthened synapses after cocaine treatment. Our data suggest that early cocaine-evoked plasticity in the ventral tegmental area inverts the rules for activity-dependent plasticity, eventually leading to addictive behavior.

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