Summary: ELEVATIONS OF FosB IN THE NUCLEUS ACCUMBENS DURING
FORCED COCAINE ABSTINENCE CORRELATE WITH DIVERGENT
CHANGES IN REWARD FUNCTION
G. C. HARRIS,1
M. HUMMEL, M. WIMMER, S. D. MAGUE
AND G. ASTON-JONES*
Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Translational
Research Labs/3403, 125 South 31st Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104,
USA
Abstract--Dysregulation of hedonic processing, in which
seeking of drug reward becomes more desirable than seek-
ing natural rewards, like food, sex, and novelty, is a conse-
quence of chronic drug exposure and potentially leads to
escalating drug usage and addiction. Here, we investigated
the effects of chronic cocaine treatment (10 days of escalat-
ing doses of cocaine, 10­30 mg/kg) and multiple forced ab-
stinence periods (2, 3 or 5 weeks) on the acute rewarding
properties of either cocaine (10 mg/kg) or novel-objects using
the conditioned place preference procedure. Following all
cocaine withdrawal periods, cocaine preference was signifi-

Source: Aston-Jones, Gary - Department of Neurosciences, Medical University of South Carolina

Collections: Biology and Medicine