A combination of anterograde and retrograde tracing techniques was used to study the projections to the nucleus accumbens from the amygdala, the hippocampal formation (including the entorhinal cortex), and the perirhinal cortex in two species of macaque monkey. To help identify possible subregions within the nucleus accumbens, the distribution of calbindin was examined in two additional monkeys...

Recent evidence indicates that neuropeptide Y (NPY) signaling modulates ethanol-induced locomotor sensitization. Additionally, a growing body of literature suggests that epigenetic mechanisms, including histone acetylation, may play important roles in drug addiction. In the present study, we used immunohistochemical techniques to investigate the expression of both NPY and the acetylation of his...

Background/Aim. Nucleus accumbens is a part of the ventral striatum also known as a drug active brain region, especially related with drug addiction. The aim of the study was to investigate the Golgi morphology of the nucleus accumbens neurons. Methods. The study was performed on the frontal and sagittal sections of 15 human brains by the Golgi Kopsch method. We classified neurons in the human ...

Chronic cannabinoid exposure during adolescence may negatively impact brain development and alter adult motivation and behavior. We present evidence that treatment with a cannabinoid agonist during adolescence attenuates estrous-mediated expression of c-Fos within the nucleus accumbens of female rats exposed to a male conspecific. Thirty-two female Long-Evans rats were administered either 0.4 m...

Sensitization to drugs, such as amphetamine, is associated with alterations in the morphology of neurons in the nucleus accumbens, a brain region critical to motivation and reward. The studies reported here indicate that a strong natural motivator, sodium depletion and associated salt appetite, also leads to alterations in neurons in nucleus accumbens. Medium spiny neurons in the shell of the n...

Amphetamine-like stimulants exert well-known arousal-enhancing actions. Surprisingly, little is known concerning the neuroanatomical substrates through which these drugs enhance arousal. Previous work implicates a number of basal forebrain structures in the regulation of behavioral state. The current studies examined the effects of amphetamine infusions made directly within basal forebrain site...

Stimulation of either GABA(A) or GABA(B) receptors within the nucleus accumbens shell strongly enhances food intake in rats. However the effects of subtype-selective stimulation of GABA receptors on instrumental responses for food reward are less well characterized. Here we contrast the effects of the GABA(A) receptor agonist muscimol and GABA(B) receptor agonist baclofen on instrumental respon...

Rats infected with the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii exhibit reduced avoidance of predator odours. This behavioural change is likely to increase transmission of the parasite from rats to cats. Here, we show that infection with T. gondii increases the propensity of the infected rats to make more impulsive choices, manifested as delay aversion in an intertemporal choice task. Concomitantly...

When an initially neutral stimulus has been paired in Pavlovian fashion with an appetitive outcome such as food, noncontingent presentation of this conditioned stimulus (CS) can enhance ongoing instrumental responding, a phenomenon termed Pavlovian–instrumental transfer (PIT). In its simplest form, PIT is assessed by presenting a CS for food while the subject is responding in extinction on a si...