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Role of
Dopamine in the Behavioural Responses
to Drugs of Abuse
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Using a
mouse model, Thomas
Hnasko of the Graduate Program in Neurobiology and
Behavior and Professor Richard
Palmiter have investigated the role of dopamine in the
behavioural responses to drugs of abuse.
As first author, Hnasko was interviewed
by Nature. |
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"Latency to tail-flick" (how long it takes
the
mouse to move its tail away from a noxious
stimulus) is a standard
measure of sensitivity
to pain. This graph shows that
dopamine-deficient
mice are more senstive to thermal stimulus than
control mice, suggesting that dopamine normally
suppresses pain. |
"Ambulations" (literally,
walking) are a
standard
measure of
locomotor activity. This graph shows
that pre-treatment of dopamine-deficient mice
with
L-dopa restores a robust locomotor response to
morphine.
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Hnasko
TS, Sotak BN, Palmiter RD (2005)
Morphine reward in dopamine-deficient mice. Nature 438, 854-857.
Abstract
Dopamine
has been widely implicated as a mediator of many of the
behavioural responses to drugs of abuse. To test the hypothesis
that dopamine is an essential mediator of various opiate-induced
responses, we administered morphine to mice unable to synthesize
dopamine. We found that dopamine-deficient mice are unable to
mount a normal locomotor response to morphine, but a small
dopamine-independent increase in locomotion remains.
Dopamine-deficient mice have a rightward shift in the
dose-response curve to morphine on the tail-flick test (a pain
sensitivity assay), suggesting either a decreased sensitivity to
the analgesic effects of morphine and/or basal hyperalgesia. In
contrast, dopamine-deficient mice display a robust conditioned
place preference for morphine when given either caffeine or
l-dihydroxyphenylalanine (a dopamine precursor that restores
dopamine throughout the brain) during the testing phases.
Together, these data demonstrate that dopamine is a crucial
component of morphine-induced locomotion, dopamine may contribute
to morphine analgesia, but that dopamine is not required for
morphine-induced reward as measured by conditioned place
preference.
Nature interview with first author Hnasko |
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