ArticleNeuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology2012
Differential effects of cocaine on dopamine neuron firing in awake and anesthetized rats.
Article in Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 38 papers.
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Who cites it
38 citing papers in PubMed.
- Disruption of Dopamine Homeostasis by Psychostimulants.Molecular neurobiology · 2026Review
- Kappa opioid receptors diminish spontaneous dopamine signals in awake mice through multiple mechanisms.Neuropharmacology · 2025Article
- Polypharmacy with tiagabine, levetiracetam, and perampanel in status epilepticus: Insights from EEG, biochemical, and histopathological studies in rats.Epilepsia open · 2025Article
- An endogenous GLP-1 circuit engages VTA GABA neurons to regulate mesolimbic dopamine neurons and attenuate cocaine seeking.Science advances · 2025Article
- The role of the prefrontal cortex in cocaine-induced noradrenaline release in the nucleus accumbens: a computational study.Biological cybernetics · 2025Article
- Cocaine induces locomotor sensitization through a dopamine-dependent VTA-mPFC-FrA cortico-cortical pathway in male mice.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Distinct dose-dependent effects of methamphetamine on real-time dopamine transmission in the rat nucleus accumbens and behaviors.Journal of neurochemistry · 2021Article
- Ethanol produces multiple electrophysiological effects on ventral tegmental area neurons in freely moving rats.Addiction biology · 2021Article
- Glutamate homeostasis and dopamine signaling: Implications for psychostimulant addiction behavior.Neurochemistry international · 2021Review
- A dual role for α-synuclein in facilitation and depression of dopamine release from substantia nigra neurons in vivo.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2020Article
- The Critical Role of Peripheral Targets in Triggering Rapid Neural Effects of Intravenous Cocaine.Neuroscience · 2020Review
- A history of ethanol drinking increases locomotor stimulation and blunts enhancement of dendritic dopamine transmission by methamphetamine.Addiction biology · 2020Article
- Multidimensional Top-Down Proteomics of Brain-Region-Specific Mouse Brain Proteoforms Responsive to Cocaine and Estradiol.Journal of proteome research · 2019Article
- Genetics of cocaine and methamphetamine consumption and preference in Drosophila melanogaster.PLoS genetics · 2019Article
- Deletion ofEMBO reports · 2018Article
- Central GLP-1 receptor activation modulates cocaine-evoked phasic dopamine signaling in the nucleus accumbens core.Physiology & behavior · 2017Article
- Regional influence of cocaine on evoked dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens core: A role for the caudal brainstem.Brain research · 2017Article
- Contrasting Regulation of Catecholamine Neurotransmission in the Behaving Brain: Pharmacological Insights from an Electrochemical Perspective.Pharmacological reviews · 2017Review
- Modafinil Activates Phasic Dopamine Signaling in Dorsal and Ventral Striata.The Journal of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics · 2016Article
- Diversity of Dopaminergic Neural Circuits in Response to Drug Exposure.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2016Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Cocaine (benzoylmethylecgonine), a natural alkaloid, is a powerful psychostimulant and a highly addictive drug. Unfortunately, the relationships between its behavioral and electrophysiological effects are not clear. We investigated the effects of cocaine on the firing of midbrain dopaminergic (DA) neurons, both in anesthetized and awake rats, using pre-implanted multielectrode arrays and a recently developed telemetric recording system. In anesthetized animals, cocaine (10 mg/kg, intraperitoneally) produced a general decrease of the firing rate and bursting of DA neurons, sometimes preceded by a transient increase in both parameters, as previously reported by others. In awake rats, however, injection of cocaine led to a very different pattern of changes in firing. A decrease in firing rate and bursting was observed in only 14% of DA neurons. Most of the other DA neurons underwent increases in firing rate and bursting: these changes were correlated with locomotor activity in 52% of the neurons, but were uncorrelated in 29% of them. Drug concentration measurements indicated that the observed differences between the two conditions did not have a pharmacokinetic origin. Taken together, our results demonstrate that cocaine injection differentially affects the electrical activity of DA neurons in awake and anesthetized states. The observed increases in neuronal activity may in part reflect the cocaine-induced synaptic potentiation found ex vivo in these neurons. Our observations also show that electrophysiological recordings in awake animals can uncover drug effects, which are masked by general anesthesia.
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