Treball final de Màster Universitari en Investigació en Cervell i Conducta. Codi: SBM024. Curs acadèmic 2015-2016Addiction could be considered the result of pathological learning. Drug-associated cues
become strong conditioned stimuli that create drug-related memories which promote
drug seeking leading to relapse. Both, the striatumcortico-limbic circuitry and the
cerebellum store information about reinforcing stimuli and their related cues, sharing
widespread connections. Previous studies from the lab showed that both, the IL and
the cerebellum exhibit hallmark signatures of drug-induced memories, changes in c-
Fos expression and in PNNs. Moreover, the deactivation of the infralimbic cortex (IL)
promote preference towards cocaine-associated cues, and expressed increased c-Fos+
neurons, and stronger PNNs in Golgi neurons in the apex of lobule VIII of the
cerebellum. In the present study, we managed the effect of a permanent lesion of the
lobule VIII vermis of the cerebellum on cocaine-induced odour preference conditioning
and plasticity changes in the IL. We aimed to elucidate whether the plasticity changes
of drug-induced memories observed in the cerebellum can also be found in the IL. Our
results showed that a permanent lesion of the lobule VIII in the vermis promotes
preference towards cocaine-associated cues, an increased number of c-Fos+ neurons,
and a reduction in the number of infralimbic neurons that expressed a PNN, but no
differences were found between groups related to average intensity of the matrix
expression. It seems that the IL cortex and vermis are part of a functional and
structural network for inhibitory effects on the acquisition of these drug-dependent
preference memories
