Ventral tegmental area dopamine cell activation during male rat sexual behavior regulates neuroplasticity and d-amphetamine cross-sensitization following sex …

LN Beloate, A Omrani, RA Adan, IC Webb… - Journal of …, 2016 - Soc Neuroscience
Experience with sexual behavior causes cross-sensitization of amphetamine reward, an
effect dependent on a period of sexual reward abstinence. We previously showed that …

Endogenous opioid-induced neuroplasticity of dopaminergic neurons in the ventral tegmental area influences natural and opiate reward

KK Pitchers, CM Coppens, LN Beloate… - Journal of …, 2014 - Soc Neuroscience
Natural reward and drugs of abuse converge on the mesolimbic pathway and activate
common mechanism of neural plasticity in the nucleus accumbens. Chronic exposure to …

Neuroplasticity in the mesolimbic system induced by natural reward and subsequent reward abstinence

KK Pitchers, ME Balfour, MN Lehman, NM Richtand… - Biological …, 2010 - Elsevier
BACKGROUND: Natural reward and drugs of abuse converge on the mesolimbic system,
where drugs of abuse induce neuronal alterations. Here, we tested plasticity in this system …

Natural and drug rewards act on common neural plasticity mechanisms with ΔFosB as a key mediator

KK Pitchers, V Vialou, EJ Nestler… - Journal of …, 2013 - Soc Neuroscience
Drugs of abuse induce neuroplasticity in the natural reward pathway, specifically the
nucleus accumbens (NAc), thereby causing development and expression of addictive …

Nucleus accumbens NMDA receptor activation regulates amphetamine cross-sensitization and deltaFosB expression following sexual experience in male rats

LN Beloate, PW Weems, GR Casey, IC Webb… - …, 2016 - Elsevier
Sexual experience in male rats followed by a period of abstinence causes sensitization to d-
Amphetamine (Amph) reward, evidenced by an increased conditioned place preference …

[HTML][HTML] Natural reward experience alters AMPA and NMDA receptor distribution and function in the nucleus accumbens

KK Pitchers, S Schmid, AR Di Sebastiano, X Wang… - PloS one, 2012 - journals.plos.org
Natural reward and drugs of abuse converge upon the mesolimbic system which mediates
motivation and reward behaviors. Drugs induce neural adaptations in this system, including …

Sexual behavior induction of c-Fos in the nucleus accumbens and amphetamine-stimulated locomotor activity are sensitized by previous sexual experience in female …

KC Bradley, RL Meisel - Journal of Neuroscience, 2001 - Soc Neuroscience
Dopamine transmission in the nucleus accumbens can be activated by drugs, stress, or
motivated behaviors, and repeated exposure to these stimuli can sensitize this dopamine …

[HTML][HTML] Sexual behavior and sex-associated environmental cues activate the mesolimbic system in male rats

ME Balfour, L Yu, LM Coolen - Neuropsychopharmacology, 2004 - nature.com
The mesolimbic system plays an important role in the regulation of both pathological
behaviors such as drug addiction and normal motivated behaviors such as sexual behavior …

Influences of social reward experience on behavioral responses to drugs of abuse: review of shared and divergent neural plasticity mechanisms for sexual reward and …

LN Beloate, LM Coolen - Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 2017 - Elsevier
Different factors influence the development of drug addiction in humans, including social
reward experiences. In animals, experience with social rewards, such as sexual behavior …

Cell-type specific increases in female hamster nucleus accumbens spine density following female sexual experience

NA Staffend, VL Hedges, BR Chemel, VJ Watts… - Brain Structure and …, 2014 - Springer
Female sexual behavior is an established model of a naturally motivated behavior which is
regulated by activity within the mesolimbic dopamine system. Repeated activation of the …