Study of the Possible Interaction Between Wnt Canonical Pathway and Myelin Proteins in Cocaine-Induced Behavioral Sensitization

FUNES, ALEJANDRINA; CIMA, LUISINA; KONJUH, CINTIA; PACCHIONI, ALEJANDRA M

Cordoba

Congreso; Congreso Anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencia; 2018

Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencia

Cocaine addiction is a chronic relapsing disorder mainlycharacterized by loss of control over drug seeking andtaking. The transition between occasional use and addictioninvolves long-term neuroadaptations within the brainreward circuit. Among those neuroadaptations, we recentlyshowed that Wnt/b-catenin pathway activity is modified incocaine-induced behavioral sensitization. Other researchershave shown a relationship between cocaine and myelin compositionas well as b-catenin and myelin genes expression.Our main goal was to evaluate whether Wnt/b-catenin pathwayand myelin proteins are link to cocaine-induced behavioralsensitization. Thus, we submitted male Wistar rats to asensitization paradigm (cocaine, 2 x 15 mg/kg i.p., 5 x 30mg/kg i.p.), then they received seven injections of lithiumchloride (LiCl, canonical pathway activator) or saline, and2 weeks later a cocaine (15 mg/kg) or saline challenge.Locomotor activity was recorded on Days 1, 7, and 28 tomeasure sensitization. Animals were sacrificed, and theirbrains removed the day after the challenge to evaluate b-cateninand myelin basic protein levels. So far, our preliminaryresults showed that LiCl treatment during cocaine abstinencedifferentially impact on the behavioral response aswell as on the protein levels depending on the previousdevelopment of sensitization. Ongoing studies are aimedto clarify the possible link between Wnt/b-catenin pathwayactivity, cocaine, and myelin proteins.