Inhibiting cyclin-dependent kinase 5 in the nucleus accumbens enhances the expression of amphetamine-induced locomotor conditioning.

When psychostimulant drugs like amphetamine are administered repeatedly in the presence of a contextual stimulus complex, long-lasting associations form between the unconditioned effects of the drug and the contextual stimuli. Here we assessed the role played by the proline-directed serine/threonine kinase cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5) in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) on the expression of the conditioned locomotion normally observed when rats are returned to a context previously paired with amphetamine. Infusing the Cdk5 inhibitor roscovitine (40nmol/0.5µl/side) into the NAcc 30-min before the test for conditioning significantly enhanced the conditioned locomotor response observed in rats previously administered amphetamine in the test environment. This effect was specific to the expression of a conditioned response as inhibiting Cdk5 produced no effect in control rats previously administered saline or previously administered amphetamine elsewhere. As inhibiting Cdk5 during exposure to amphetamine has been found to block the accrual of locomotor conditioning, the present results suggest distinct roles for NAcc Cdk5 in the induction and expression of excitatory conditioning by amphetamine.

Unpredictable saccharin reinforcement enhances locomotor responding to amphetamine.

Drug-naïve, non-deprived rats were trained to lever press for saccharin under fixed-ratio (FR) or variable-ratio (VR) schedules of reinforcement. Rats trained on the VR schedule in which saccharin reinforcement was not predicted by a fixed number of lever presses subsequently showed an enhanced locomotor response to a threshold amphetamine challenge injection (0.5mg/kg IP) administered 2 weeks following the last saccharin session. This finding suggests that chronic exposure to gambling-like conditions of uncertain reinforcement can induce neuroadaptations in brain reward systems that are similar to those produced by repeated psychostimulant exposure and may lead to the development of addictive behaviors.

Transient viral-mediated overexpression of alpha-calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II in the nucleus accumbens shell leads to long-lasting functional upregulation of alpha-amino-3-hydroxyl-5-methyl-4-isoxazole-propionate receptors: dopamine type-1 receptor and protein kinase A dependence.

Calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) activity is necessary for the long-lasting expression of locomotor sensitization and enhanced drug-taking observed in rats previously exposed to psychostimulants. Exposure to these drugs also transiently increases alphaCaMKII levels in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc), an effect that, when mimicked by transient viral-mediated overexpression of alphaCaMKII in NAcc shell neurons, leads to long-lasting enhancement in locomotor responding to amphetamine and NAcc alpha-amino-3-hydroxyl-5-methyl-4-isoxazole-propionate (AMPA). The present experiments characterized the dopamine (DA) dependence of the functional AMPA receptor upregulation observed long after transient overexpression of alphaCaMKII. Rats infected with herpes simplex virus-alphaCaMKII in the NAcc shell showed a transient increase in alphaCaMKII levels that peaked at 4 days post-infection and returned to baseline 8 days later. When challenged with AMPA (0.8 nmol/side) in the NAcc shell at 20 days post-infection, these rats showed enhanced locomotion compared with controls. This sensitized locomotor response was blocked when AMPA was coinfused with either the DA type-1 receptor antagonist SCH23390 (0.8 nmol/side) or the protein kinase A inhibitor Rp-cAMPS (80 nmol/side). Neither SCH23390 nor Rp-cAMPS produced locomotor effects when infused by itself into the NAcc shell. Furthermore, these antagonists did not block the acute non-sensitized locomotor response to AMPA observed in control rats. These findings show that transient viral-mediated overexpression of alphaCaMKII in neurons of the NAcc shell leads to long-lasting functional upregulation of AMPA receptors that is DA type-1 receptor and protein kinase A dependent. Thus, transient increases in levels of alphaCaMKII in the NAcc shell produce long-lasting changes in the way that DA and glutamate interact in this site to generate locomotor behavior.