Article abstract


Nature Neuroscience 10, 1029 - 1037 (2007)
Published online: 8 July 2007 | doi:10.1038/nn1929

Dynamic BDNF activity in nucleus accumbens with cocaine use increases self-administration and relapse

Danielle L Graham1, Scott Edwards1, Ryan K Bachtell1, Ralph J DiLeone2, Maribel Rios3 & David W Self1


A single exposure to cocaine rapidly induces the brief activation of several immediate early genes, but the role of such short-term regulation in the enduring consequences of cocaine use is poorly understood. We found that 4 h of intravenous cocaine self-administration in rats induced a transient increase in brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and activation of TrkB-mediated signaling in the nucleus accumbens (NAc). Augmenting this dynamic regulation with five daily NAc BDNF infusions caused enduring increases in cocaine self-administration, and facilitated relapse to cocaine seeking in withdrawal. In contrast, neutralizing endogenous BDNF regulation with intra-NAc infusions of antibody to BDNF subsequently reduced cocaine self-administration and attenuated relapse. Using localized inducible BDNF knockout in mice, we found that BDNF originating from NAc neurons was necessary for maintaining increased cocaine self-administration. These findings suggest that dynamic induction and release of BDNF from NAc neurons during cocaine use promotes the development and persistence of addictive behavior.

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  1. Department of Psychiatry, The Seay Center for Basic and Applied Research in Psychiatric Illness, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas 75390-9070, USA.
  2. Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine and Connecticut Mental Health Center, 34 Park Street, New Haven, Connecticut 06508, USA.
  3. Department of Neuroscience, Tufts University School of Medicine, 136 Harrison Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02111, USA.

Correspondence to: David W Self1 e-mail: david.self@utsouthwestern.edu.




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