Administration of the GABAA receptor antagonist picrotoxin into rat supramammillary nucleus induces c-Fos in reward-related brain structures. Supramammillary picrotoxin and c-Fos expression |
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Authors: | Rick Shin and Satoshi Ikemoto |
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Affiliation: | (1) Behavioral Neuroscience Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, 21224 Baltimore, Maryland, USA |
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Abstract: | Background Picrotoxin blocks GABAA receptors, whose activation typically inhibits neuronal firing activity. We recently found that rats learn to selectively self-administer picrotoxin or bicuculline, another GABAA receptor antagonist, into the supramammillary nucleus (SuM), a posterior hypothalamic structure localized anterior to the ventral tegmental area. Other drugs such as nicotine or the excitatory amino acid AMPA are also self-administered into the SuM. The SuM appears to be functionally linked with the mesolimbic dopamine system and is closely connected with other brain structures that are implicated in motivational processes, including the prefrontal cortex, septal area, preoptic area, lateral hypothalamic area and dorsal raphe nucleus. Here, we hypothesized that these brain structures are activated by picrotoxin injections into the SuM. |
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