Drugs of abuse share with conventional reinforcers the activation of specific neural
pathways in the CNS that are the substrate of their motivational properties. Dopamine is …

Drug reinforcement is a form of behavioral plasticity in which behavioral changes occur in
response to acute exposure to a reinforcing drug. Drugs are classified as reinforcers if the …

Considering the importance of self-administration models in determining mechanisms of
drug maintained behavior, we attempted to replicate the findings of nicotine self …

Abstract Extracellular dopamine and DOPAC (3, 4‐dihydroxyphenylacetic acid) levels in
nucleus accumbens were sampled by microdialysis and quantified with high‐performance …

Medication development for cocaine abuse has focused on potential mechanisms of action
related to the abuse of cocaine. The hypothesis that mesolimbic dopamine (DA) is the key …

Materials and Methods Animals and surgical procedures. Adult male Fischer F-344 rats (90-
150 days; 275-350 g; SASCO, Lincoln, NE) were housed individually in acrylic cages with …

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of acute administration of
monoamine reuptake inhibitors on cocaine self-administration in rats. Pretreatment with …

Behavioural sensitization involves progressive increases in behavioural responses to
repeated intermittent administration of drugs of abuse. Behavioural sensitization is observed …

Previous studies have shown that chronic, forced exposure to opiates produces specific
biochemical adaptations in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and nucleus accumbens (NAc) …

The role of drug-paired environmental stimuli in opiate self-administration was investigated
by exposing animals to discrete cues that were predictive of the availability or unavailability …