Estrogen influences cocaine-induced blood oxygen level-dependent signal changes in female rats
UMass Chan Affiliations
Center for Comparative NeuroImagingDocument Type
Journal ArticlePublication Date
2005-02-04Keywords
AnimalsCerebrovascular Circulation
Cocaine
Estradiol
Female
Hippocampus
Hypercapnia
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Nucleus Accumbens
Ovariectomy
Oxygen
Rats
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Sex Characteristics
Tegmentum Mesencephali
Life Sciences
Medicine and Health Sciences
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
We investigated the effect of estrogen on cocaine-induced brain activity using blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) magnetic resonance imaging. Ovariectomized (Ovx) rats without estrogen and Ovx rats with estrogen (Ovx+E) were given a single saline or cocaine injection (15 mg/kg, i.p.) for 5 d. After 7 d of withdrawal from injections, rats were challenged with cocaine during functional imaging. Acute cocaine administration produced positive BOLD activation in the prefrontal cortex, nucleus accumbens, striatum, ventral tegmental area, and hippocampus, among other brain regions. Positive BOLD signal changes were lower in Ovx+E than in Ovx rats. With repeated cocaine administration, Ovx+E rats showed enhanced BOLD signal changes in the nucleus accumbens, ventral tegmental area, and hippocampus compared with acutely treated animals. Our results indicate that estrogen influences the effects of acute and repeated cocaine administration on BOLD signal changes. The data suggest that in females with estrogen, cocaine-induced neuronal activity is enhanced after repeated cocaine administration. It is possible that the actions of estrogen within the aforementioned brain regions potentiate the behavioral response to cocaine observed in female rats.Source
J Neurosci. 2005 Feb 2;25(5):1132-6. Link to article on publisher's siteDOI
10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3801-04.2005Permanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/38298PubMed ID
15689549Related Resources
Link to Article in PubMedae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3801-04.2005