ArticleBiological psychiatry2016
Cocaine Self-Administration and Extinction Leads to Reduced Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein Expression and Morphometric Features of Astrocytes in the Nucleus Accumbens Core.
Article in Biological psychiatry, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 127 papers.
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Who cites it
127 citing papers in PubMed, 177 citations in OpenAlex.
- Synaptic plasticity in cocaine-seeking ensembles of the nucleus accumbens core.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Cannabinoid use generalizes stress responses: involvement of astrocyte plasticity and activation of matrix metalloproteinases in the nucleus accumbens core.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- The neuroimmune-glutamate hypothesis of addiction.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2026Review
- Astrocyte TrkB.T1 Deficiency Disrupts Glutamatergic Synaptogenesis and Astrocyte-Synapse Interactions.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026Article
- Volitional cocaine taking engages distinct medium spiny neuron and astrocyte transcriptional programs in the rat nucleus accumbens.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- MAO-B status in alcohol use disorder: a [Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Abuse Potential and Neurotoxic Effects of the Synthetic Cannabinoid 4F-ABUTINACA Self-Administration in Adult Male Rats.Addiction biology · 2026Article
- Cocaine affects astrocyte iNOS expression.Brain research · 2026Article
- Multisystem regulation of reward and addiction: beyond the dopaminergic system.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Review
- Astrocyte Ezrin defines resilience to stress-induced depressive behaviours in mice.National science review · 2026Article
- From Stress to Substance Use Disorders: The Expanding Role of Microglia-Astrocyte Crosstalk in Neuroimmune and Glutamate Alterations in the Nucleus Accumbens.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Astrocytic CREB regulates transcriptomic, neuronal, and behavioral responses to cocaine.Science advances · 2025Article
- Reducing astrocyte calcium in the nucleus accumbens core increases reward valuation.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Astrocytes Control Cocaine-Induced Synaptic Plasticity and Reward Through the Matricellular Protein Hevin.Biological psychiatry · 2025Article
- Astrocyte alterations and dysfunction in alcohol use disorder: A comprehensive scoping review of clinical postmortem and preclinical evidence.Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry · 2025Article
- Abstinence from cocaine self-administration promotes microglial pruning of astrocytes, which drives cocaine-seeking behavior.Cell reports · 2025Article
- Lipidomic and proteomic insights from extracellular vesicles in the postmortem dorsolateral prefrontal cortex reveal substance use disorder-induced brain changes.Translational psychiatry · 2025Article
- Investigating cocaine- and abstinence-induced effects on astrocyte gene expression in the nucleus accumbens.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Schizophrenia-associated 22q11.2 deletion elevates striatal acetylcholine and disrupts thalamostriatal projections to produce amotivation in mice.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Effect of an astrocyte calcium exporter on orbitofrontal cortex neuron excitability, astrocyte-synaptic interaction, and alcohol consumption.Neuropharmacology · 2025Article
67 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAs a more detailed picture of nervous system function emerges, diversity of astrocyte function becomes more widely appreciated. While it has been shown that cocaine experience impairs astroglial glutamate uptake and release in the nucleus accumbens (NAc), few studies have explored effects of self-administration on the structure and physiology of astrocytes. We investigated the effects of extinction from daily cocaine self-administration on astrocyte characteristics including glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) expression, surface area, volume, and colocalization with a synaptic marker.
methodsCocaine or saline self-administration and extinction were paired with GFAP Westerns, immunohistochemistry, and fluorescent imaging of NAc core astrocytes (30 saline-administering and 36 cocaine-administering male Sprague Dawley rats were employed). Imaging was performed using a membrane-tagged lymphocyte protein tyrosine kinase-green fluorescent protein (Lck-GFP) driven by the GFAP promoter, coupled with synapsin I immunohistochemistry.
resultsGFAP expression was significantly reduced in the NAc core following cocaine self-administration and extinction. Similarly, we observed an overall smaller surface area and volume of astrocytes, as well as reduced colocalization with synapsin I, in cocaine-administering animals. Cocaine-mediated reductions in synaptic contact were reversed by the β-lactam antibiotic ceftriaxone.
conclusionsMultiple lines of investigation indicate that NAc core astrocytes exist in a hyporeactive state following cocaine self-administration and extinction. Decreased association with synaptic elements may be particularly meaningful, as cessation of chronic cocaine use is associated with changes in synaptic strength and resistance to the induction of synaptic plasticity. We hypothesize that the reduced synaptic colocalization of astrocytes represents an important maladaptive cellular response to cocaine and the mechanisms underlying relapse vulnerability.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.