Abstract
Drug addiction may involve learning and memory processes requiring the participation of hippocampal formation. One of the best studied examples of hippocampal synaptic plasticity is the long-term potentiation (LTP) which usually occurs when hippocampal synapses are stimulated with high-frequency stimulation. The aim of this work has been to study the effect of extinction of cocaine self-administration behavior on synaptic plasticity in rat hippocampal slices. LTP was induced using a tetanization paradigm consisting of a single train of high-frequency (100 Hz) stimulation for one second. This tetanization protocol evoked a greater and more perdurable LTP in slices obtained after 10 days of extinction of cocaine self-administration (1 mg/kg/injection) than that elicited in slices from saline self-administering (0.9% NaCl) animals. In addition, this LTP facilitation in animals which have followed the cocaine self-administration extinction protocol was very similar to that obtained in slices from cocaine self-administering animals. These results suggest that chronic cocaine self-administration induces enduring neuroadaptive changes in hippocampal synaptic plasticity which last even after the extinction of this behavior and that they may be involved in cocaine dependence.
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