Involvement of cannabinoid CB1 receptors within Nucleus Accumbens in stress-induced reinstatement in extinguished cocaine?conditioned animals.

GUZMAN, A.S.; DE GIOVANNI, L.N.; VIRGOLINI, M.B.; CANCELA, L.M.

Congreso; XXVIII Congreso de la Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencias; 2013

Involvement of cannabinoid CB1 receptors within Nucleus Accumbens in stress-induced reinstatement in extinguished cocaine?conditioned animals.   GUZMAN, A.S.; DE GIOVANNI, L.N.; VIRGOLINI, M.B.; CANCELA, L.M. IFEC-CONICET. Departamento de Farmacología. FCQ. UNC andreasuguz@gmail.com   ABSTRACT Relapse to drug abuse after long periods of abstinence is a common feature of drug addiction. Stress is considered an important factor that induces drug abuse relapse in human that can be modeled in laboratory animals. At this respect, it has been demonstrated that an acute stress exposure in animals that extinguished the cocaine-induced conditioned place preference triggers reinstatement in drug-associated contexts. One of the paradigms widely used in laboratory animals to study the relapse to compulsive drug intake is the reinstatement of the cocaine conditioned place preference. Previous results from our lab demonstrated that in extinguished cocaine-conditioned animals evaluated in a conditioned place preference test (CPP), the restraint stress was able to reinstate the cocaine conditioned place preference. In relation to the neurotransmission systems involved in these behaviors, there are evidences related to the participation of glutamatergic in relevant neural circuits for the drug action and stress impact on addiction. More recently, it has been demonstrated that endocannabinoid system, primarily through their actions at CB1 receptors, is implicated in the relapse in extinguished drug-conditioned animals. Moreover, several studies suggested that Nucleus Accumbens (NAc) is one of mesocorticolimbic brain regions involved in the reinstatement in cocaine-conditioned animals. The present project has been designed to evaluate the involvement of CB1 receptors within NAc Core and Shell, in restraint stress ?induced reinstatement, in extinguished cocaine-conditioned animals.