Ricerc@Sapienza

Addiction is commonly identified with habitual nonmedical self-administration of drugs. It is usually defined by characteristics of intoxication or by characteristics of withdrawal symptoms. Early aversive postnatal events are known to increase the risk to develop psychiatric disorders (such as addiction) later in life, although they rarely determine alone the nature and outcome of the psychopathology. It has been suggested that early life experiences could have negative consequences (vulnerability) or also confer adaptive value (resilience) in different individuals. We have recently demonstrated that Repeated Cross Fostered (RCF) pups by C57BL/6J (C57) strain show increased sensitivity to cocaine effects and, unexpectedly, increased resilience to depression-like behavior, two phenotypes related to the dopaminergic mesolimbic system function. This brain circuit includes the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and the Nucleus Accumbens (NAc) areas. In addition, RCF animals also show altered DA release, as well as morphological alterations, in the NAC following cocaine administration.
All together, these data suggest that long-lasting effects induced by our early manipulation within VTA, the area from which this circuit arises, could explain the behavioral and neurochemical effects observed in RCF animals.
Preliminary electrophysiology data indicate a critical involvement of dopaminergic neurons of ventral tegmental area (VTA) in the phenotype observed. The goal of this project is to investigate if and how these neurons contribute to the increased cocaine sensitivity by pharmacologically modulating their activity.