The findings suggest that EtOH is reinforcing within the posterior VTA of Wistar rats, and the VTA is a functionally heterogeneous structure with regard to EtOH reinforcement.

Alterations in the reinforcing and/or aversive effects of alcohol occurred after a single prolonged deprivation and were enhanced with repeated deprivations.

No abstract

The rewarding properties of cocaine have been postulated to be regulated, in part, by the mesolimbic dopamine system. However, the possibility that the rewarding properties of cocaine are mediated by direct activation of this system has yielded contradictory findings. The intracranial self-administration technique is used to identify specific brain regions involved in the initiation of response-contingent behaviors for the delivery of a reinforcer. The present study assessed whether adult Wistar rats would self-administer cocaine directly into the nucleus accumbens shell (AcbSh) and core (AcbC). For each subregion, subjects were placed in standard two-lever operant chambers and randomly assigned to one of five groups for each site that were given either artificial cerebrospinal fluid (aCSF), or 400, 800, 1200, or 1600 pmol of cocaine/100 nl to self-administer. The data indicate that rats with placements within the AcbSh readily self-administered 800 to 1600 pmol of cocaine/ 100 nl and responded significantly more on the active than inactive lever. These subjects also decreased responding on the active lever when aCSF was substituted for cocaine and reinstated responding on the active lever when cocaine was reintroduced. Coinfusion of the D 2 -like receptor antagonist sulpiride inhibited cocaine self-infusion in the AcbSh. In contrast to the AcbSh data, rats failed to self-administer any tested dose of cocaine into the AcbC or areas ventral to the AcbSh. These findings suggest that the AcbSh is a neuroanatomical substrate for the reinforcing effects of cocaine and that activation of D2-like receptors is involved.

Overall, the results suggest that periadolescent EtOH drinking by P rats produced long-lasting alterations in the reinforcing effects of alcohol, which increased the likelihood that alcohol drinking would be initiated in adulthood, decreased the likelihood that once adult alcohol drinking began it could be extinguished easily, and increased the potential for relapse.

Equivalent robust ADEs can be seen in P rats with deprivation periods of 2-8 W, which suggests that the ADE has a rapid onset and is not affected by the durations of deprivation that were tested. The duration of the ADE was prolonged in P rats exposed to a second deprivation period, suggesting that factors associated with the ADE phenomenon could be strengthened by repeated deprivations.

The results of this study suggest that the reinforcing effects of EtOH within the posterior VTA of Wistar rats require activation of local 5-HT(3) receptors.

The findings suggest that acquisition of signal-induced anticipation of self-administered ethanol is associated with increases in locomotor activity and extracellular levels of dopamine in the NAc of P rats. Such associations may be important to the development and maintenance of ethanol-seeking behaviors. The findings also indicate that operant self-administration of ethanol is associated with increases in extracellular levels of dopamine in the NAc of P rats.