1 research outputs found
Role of Specific Synaptic Plasticity Interfering Peptides in the Expression of Morphine Induced Conditioned Place Preference in Mice
Learned association between context and drug abuse is essential for the
drug conditioned place preference (CPP), which is an animal model
widely used to measure drug reward. Synaptic plasticity, in the form of
long-term potentiation (LTP) and depression (LTD), is regarded as a
proposed cellular substrate of learning and memory. However, the exact
role of LTP/LTD in addiction is not known yet. Therefore, by
bioinformatics we designed peptides aiming to interfere with LTP and
LTD respectively, to study their individual role in the expression of
morphine CPP. We found that the interfering peptide Pep-A2 can
specifically block hippocampal LTP in CA1 region, whereas Pep-A3 can
block LTD in this region. Treatment of either of their cell penetrating
forms (Tat-A2 or Tat-A3) before test can block the expression of
Morphine CPP in mice. These results suggested that both LTP and LTD are
required in the drug-associated learning and memor