Source Paper
Infralimbic Prefrontal Cortex Is Responsible for Inhibiting Cocaine Seeking in Extinguished Rats
J. Peters, R. T. LaLumiere, P. W. Kalivas
Journal of Neuroscience • 2008
Cocaine-Induced Reinstatement Testing
Objective: Testing reinstatement of cocaine seeking induced by cocaine injection in extinguished animals, and examining the role of infralimbic cortex in suppressing cocaine seeking
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Protocol Steps
Cocaine self-administration training
Animals were trained to self-administer cocaine (prior to reinstatement testing)
Note: This is the baseline training phase before extinction
View evidence from paper
“The rat prelimbic prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens core are critical for initiating cocaine seeking”
Extinction training
Animals underwent extinction training to suppress cocaine seeking behavior
Note: Extinction training recruits infralimbic cortex and accumbens shell activity
View evidence from paper
“inactivation of these structures before extinction training did not alter cocaine seeking”
Cocaine-induced reinstatement testing
Cocaine injection was administered to extinguished animals to induce reinstatement of cocaine seeking
Note: This tests whether cocaine can reinstate drug seeking in animals that have undergone extinction
View evidence from paper
“the reinstatement of drug seeking by a cocaine injection in extinguished animals”
Infralimbic cortex manipulation during reinstatement
Neuronal activity in infralimbic cortex was increased using AMPA agonist to suppress cocaine-induced reinstatement
Note: Increasing infralimbic activity suppressed reinstatement induced by cocaine injection
View evidence from paper
“the reinstatement of drug seeking by a cocaine injection in extinguished animals was suppressed by increasing neuronal activity in infralimbic cortex with the glutamate agonist AMPA”
Infralimbic cortex inactivation
Infralimbic cortex was inactivated using GABA agonists to test its role in extinction
Note: Inactivation of infralimbic cortex induced cocaine seeking in extinguished rats
View evidence from paper
“The cocaine seeking induced by inactivating infralimbic cortex resembled other forms of reinstated drug seeking”
Nucleus accumbens shell manipulation
Bilateral and unilateral inhibition of nucleus accumbens shell was performed using GABA agonists
Note: Bilateral inhibition induced cocaine seeking and increased locomotor activity; unilateral inhibition induced cocaine seeking without motor effects
View evidence from paper
“Akin to infralimbic cortex, inhibition of the accumbens shell induced cocaine seeking in extinguished rats”
Combined infralimbic and accumbens shell inactivation
Simultaneous unilateral inactivation of infralimbic cortex and accumbens shell was performed
Note: Combined inactivation induced cocaine seeking, suggesting interaction between structures is necessary for extinction
View evidence from paper
“simultaneous unilateral inactivation of the infralimbic cortex and shell induced cocaine seeking”