RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Upregulation of nAChRs and Changes in Excitability on VTA Dopamine and GABA Neurons Correlates to Changes in Nicotine-Reward-Related Behavior
JF eneuro
JO eNeuro
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP ENEURO.0189-20.2020
DO 10.1523/ENEURO.0189-20.2020
VO 7
IS 5
A1 Austin T. Akers
A1 Skylar Y. Cooper
A1 Zachary J. Baumgard
A1 Gabriella P. Casinelli
A1 Alicia J. Avelar
A1 Brandon J. Henderson
YR 2020
UL http://www.eneuro.org/content/7/5/ENEURO.0189-20.2020.abstract
AB Previous reports indicate that nicotine reward is mediated through α4β2*, α6β2*, and α4α6β2* nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs; * indicates that additional nAChR subunits may be present). Little is known about α4α6β2* nAChR involvement in reward and reinforcement because of a lack of methods that allow the direct investigation of this particular nAChR subtype. Here, we use male and female mice that contain α4-mCherry and α6-GFP nAChR subunits to show that concentrations of nicotine sufficient to evoke reward-related behavior robustly upregulate α4* and α4α6* nAChRs on midbrain dopamine (DA) and GABA neurons. Furthermore, the extent of α4α6* nAChR upregulation on ventral tegmental area (VTA) DA neurons aligns with the magnitude of nicotine reward-related behavior. We also show that the upregulation of nAChRs is accompanied by a functional change in firing frequency of both DA and GABA neurons in the VTA that is directly linked to nicotine reward-related behavior.