Ethanol Sensitization in Mice

药物滥用的奖励性、超机车性和成瘾性通常与细胞外多巴胺（DA）水平升高有关。运动刺激剂量的乙醇产生腹侧被盖区DA细胞体的激活，导致纹状体和伏隔核等终末区细胞外DA水平升高。致敏是指反复注射乙醇产生的增强运动刺激。据推测，细胞外DA水平的增加与对乙醇的运动敏化同时发生。但事实上，没有文献记录乙醇致敏后细胞外DA水平的变化。了解DA背后的神经化学

The rewarding, hyperlocomotive and addictive properties of drugs of abuse are often associated with an elevation in extracellular dopamine (DA) levels. Locomotor stimulating doses of ethanol produce activation of DA cell bodies in the ventral tegmental area, which leads to increased extracellular DA levels in the terminal fields, such as the striatum and nucleus accumbens. Sensitization refers to an augmented locomotor stimulation produced by repeated ethanol injections. It has been assumed that increases in extracellular DA levels occur in parallel with locomotor sensitization to ethanol. But in fact, there is no literature documenting changes in extracellular DA levels after ethanol sensitization. Understanding the DA neurochemistry behind ethanol sensitization is important because the process of behavioral sensitization has been suggested to contribute to the development of addiction. The goal of this research is to evaluate DA dynamics in the nucleus accumbens of C57BI/6J mice at several time intervals after sensitization. Specifically, microdialysis in freely moving mice and voltammetry in brain slices will be employed to examine the function of the DA system in detail. We postulate that DA and locomotor parameters will sensitize in parallel.