Elsevier

Neuroscience

Volume 166, Issue 3, 31 March 2010, Pages 771-784
Neuroscience

Behavioural Neuroscience
Research Paper
Methamphetamine acts on subpopulations of neurons regulating sexual behavior in male rats

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2009.12.070Get rights and content

Abstract

Methamphetamine (Meth) is a highly addictive stimulant. Meth abuse is commonly associated with the practice of sexual risk behavior and increased prevalence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Meth users report heightened sexual desire, arousal, and sexual pleasure. The biological basis for this drug–sex nexus is unknown. The current study demonstrates that Meth administration in male rats activates neurons in brain regions of the mesolimbic system that are involved in the regulation of sexual behavior. Specifically, Meth and mating co-activate cells in the nucleus accumbens core and shell, basolateral amygdala, and anterior cingulate cortex. These findings illustrate that in contrast to current belief drugs of abuse can activate the same cells as a natural reinforcer, that is sexual behavior, and in turn may influence compulsive seeking of this natural reward.

Section snippets

Subjects

Adult male Sprague–Dawley rats (210–225 g) obtained from Charles River Laboratories (Montreal, QC, Canada) were housed two per cage in standard plexiglas cages (home cages). The animal room was maintained at a 12/12 h reversed light cycle (lights off at 10.00 h). Food and water were available ad libitum. All testing was performed during the first half of the dark phase under dim red illumination. Stimulus females used for sexual behavior were bilaterally ovariectomized under deep anaesthesia

Experiment 1

Analysis of single and dual labeled cells for mating-induced Fos and Meth-induced pERK in males that received Meth 10 min prior to sacrifice revealed mating-induced Fos in the MPN, BNSTpm, NAc core and shell, BLA, VTA, and all subregions of mPFC, consistent with prior studies demonstrating mating-induced Fos expression in these areas (Baum and Everitt, 1992, Pfaus and Heeb, 1997, Veening and Coolen, 1998, Hull et al., 1999). Meth administration 10 min prior to sacrifice induced pERK in NAc core

Discussion

The current study demonstrates at a cellular level an overlap between neural activation by the natural reinforcer sexual behavior and the psychostimulant Meth. Therefore, these data show that not only do drugs act on the same brain regions that regulate natural reward, but in fact, drugs activate the same cells involved in the regulation of natural reward. Specifically, it was shown here that sexual behavior and Meth co-activated a population of neurons in the NAc core and shell, BLA, and ACA

Conclusion

Together these studies form a critical first step towards a better understanding of how drugs of abuse act on neural pathways that normally mediate natural rewards. Moreover, these findings illustrate that in contrast to the current belief that drugs of abuse do not activate the same cells in the mesolimbic system as natural reward, Meth, and to a lesser extent Amph, activate the same cells as sexual behavior. In turn, these co-activated neural populations may influence seeking of natural

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of HealthR01 DA014591 and Canadian Institutes of Health ResearchRN 014705 to LMC.

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    Present address: Department of Anatomy and Neurosciences, Neuroscience Campus Amsterdam, VU Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

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