RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Methamphetamine Self-Administration Elicits Sex-Related Changes in Postsynaptic Glutamate Transmission in the Prefrontal Cortex
JF eneuro
JO eNeuro
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP ENEURO.0401-18.2018
DO 10.1523/ENEURO.0401-18.2018
VO 6
IS 1
A1 Pena-Bravo, Jose Ignacio
A1 Penrod, Rachel
A1 Reichel, Carmela M.
A1 Lavin, Antonieta
YR 2019
UL http://www.eneuro.org/content/6/1/ENEURO.0401-18.2018.abstract
AB Preclinical and clinical research has shown that females are more vulnerable to the rewarding effects of stimulants, and it has been proposed that estrogens may play a role in this enhanced sensitivity; however sex differences in methamphetamine (METH)-induced neuroplasticity have not been explored. To address this gap in knowledge, we recorded from the prelimbic area of the prefrontal cortex (PL-PFC) of male and female rats following long access METH self-administration (SA) and investigated the resulting long-term synaptic neuroadaptations. Males and females took similar amounts of METH during SA; however, female rats exhibit significant synaptic baseline differences when compared to males. Furthermore, females exhibited a significant increase in evoked excitatory currents. This increase in evoked glutamate was correlated with increases in NMDA currents and was not affected by application of a GluN2B selective blocker. We propose that METH SA selectively upregulates GluN2B-lacking NMDA receptors (NMDAR) in the PFC of female rats. Our results may provide a mechanistic explanation for the sex differences reported for METH addiction in females.