20 research outputs found
The β3 subunit of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor: Modulation of gene expression and nicotine consumption
Association of Catechol-O-methyltransferase single nucleotide polymorphisms, ethnicity, and sex in a large cohort of fibromyalgia patients
Biopsychosocial Influence on Exercise-Induced Injury: Genetic and Psychological Combinations Are Predictive of Shoulder Pain Phenotypes
Nicotinic receptors in non-human primates: Analysis of genetic and functional conservation with humans
Dopaminergic Signaling Mediates the Motivational Response Underlying the Opponent Process to Chronic but Not Acute Nicotine
The mesolimbic dopamine (DA) system is implicated in the processing of the positive reinforcing effect of all drugs of abuse, including nicotine. It has been suggested that the dopaminergic system is also involved in the aversive motivational response to drug withdrawal, particularly for opiates, however, the role for dopaminergic signaling in the processing of the negative motivational properties of nicotine withdrawal is largely unknown. We hypothesized that signaling at dopaminergic receptors mediates chronic nicotine withdrawal aversions and that dopaminergic signaling would differentially mediate acute vs dependent nicotine motivation. We report that nicotine-dependent rats and mice showed conditioned place aversions to an environment paired with abstinence from chronic nicotine that were blocked by the DA receptor antagonist α-flupenthixol (α-flu) and in DA D2 receptor knockout mice. Conversely, α-flu pretreatment had no effect on preferences for an environment paired with abstinence from acute nicotine. Taken together, these results suggest that dopaminergic signaling is necessary for the opponent motivational response to nicotine in dependent, but not non-dependent, rodents. Further, signaling at the DA D2 receptor is critical in mediating withdrawal aversions in nicotine-dependent animals. We suggest that the alleviation of nicotine withdrawal primarily may be driving nicotine motivation in dependent animals