Stressful manipulations can sensitize the behavior of an organism, increasing anxiety-like behavior after a delay; this long-term stress sensitization can represent the pathophysiological basis of trauma- and stress-related disorders (TRSDs), of which the most prevalent is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A role for the glutamate-nitric oxide pathway in this sensitization is implied by be...

The influence of calcium channel antagonists on the behavioral sensitization to nicotine-induced hyperlocomotion and place preference was investigated. Locomotor sensitization in mice was produced by injecting nicotine (0.5 mg/kg, i.p.) for 5 consecutive days before placement in an apparatus in which locomotor activity was evaluated for 1 h. One week later, activity of mice was recorded after c...

Drug addiction represents a pathological form of neuroplasticity along with the emergence of aberrant behaviors involving a cascade of neurochemical changes mainly in the brain's rewarding circuitry. The aberrant behavioral phenotypes can be assessed by an animal model of drug-induced behavioral sensitization, which is characterized by an initiation stage that is formed in the ventral tegmental...

The repeated administration of dopamine receptor agonists produces a progressive increase in the acute behavioral effects of these drugs, known as behavioral sensitization. These includes the development of impulsive aggressive behavior after repeated small doses of apomorphine. The aim of this investigation was to study the behavioral specificity of the apomorphine-induced aggressiveness model...

RATIONALE The ability of ethanol to facilitate GABA(A) receptor-mediated transmission may result in GABA(A) receptor alterations during repeated ethanol administration, and lead to dynamic behavioral changes, including sensitization to the locomotor stimulant effect of ethanol. Since alterations in GABA(A) receptors are likely to alter sensitivity to GABAergic drugs such as 3alpha-hydroxy-5alph...

Chronic cocaine use reduces glutamate levels in the nucleus accumbens (NAc), and is associated with experience-dependent changes in (+/-)-alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methylisoxazole-4-propionic acid (AMPA) glutamate receptor membrane expression in NAc neurons. These changes accompany behavioral sensitization to cocaine and increased susceptibility to cocaine relapse. The functional relationship bet...

Chronic pain due to nerve injury is resistant to current analgesics. Animal models of neuropathic pain show neuronal plasticity and behavioral reflex sensitization in the spinal cord that depend on the NMDA receptor. We reveal complexes of NMDA receptors with the multivalent adaptor protein PSD-95 in the dorsal horn of spinal cord and show that PSD-95 plays a key role in neuropathic reflex sens...

Although alcoholism is a worldwide problem resulting in millions of deaths, only a small percentage of alcohol users become addicted. The specific neural substrates responsible for individual differences in vulnerability to alcohol addiction are not known. In this study, we used rodent models to study behavioral and synaptic correlates related to individual differences in the development of eth...

Behavioral sensitization, defined as a progressive increase in the locomotor stimulant effects elicited by repeated exposure to drugs of abuse, has been used as an animal model for drug craving in humans. The mesoaccumbens dopaminergic system has been proposed to be critically involved in this phenomenon; however, few studies have been designed to systematically investigate the effects of dopam...