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Changes in dendritic spine density in the nucleus accumbens do not underlie ethanol sensitization
Author(s) -
a Christi.,
Bermejo Marie Kristel,
Ramsey Amy J.,
Nobrega José N.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
synapse
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.809
H-Index - 106
eISSN - 1098-2396
pISSN - 0887-4476
DOI - 10.1002/syn.21862
Subject(s) - dendritic spine , sensitization , nucleus accumbens , medium spiny neuron , behavioral sensitization , neuroscience , spine (molecular biology) , addiction , neuroplasticity , synapse , conditioning , chemistry , psychology , biology , basal ganglia , central nervous system , microbiology and biotechnology , hippocampal formation , statistics , mathematics
Behavioral sensitization to various drugs of abuse has been shown to change dendritic spine density and/or morphology of nucleus accumbens (NAc) medium spiny neurons, an effect seen across drug classes. However, is it not known whether behavioral sensitization to ethanol (EtOH) is also associated with structural changes in this region. Here we compared dendritic spine density and morphology between mice showing High vs. Low levels of EtOH sensitization and found that high levels of EtOH sensitization were not associated with changes in dendritic spine density or spine type. Unexpectedly, however, a significant increase in the density of stubby‐type spines was seen in mice that were resistant to sensitization. Since the presence of this spine type has been associated with long‐term depression and cognitive/learning deficits this may explain why these mice fail to sensitize and why they show poor performance in conditioning tasks, as previously shown. A possible causal role for structural plasticity in behavioral sensitization to various drugs has been debated. In the case of EtOH sensitization, our results suggest that drug‐induced changes in structural plasticity in the accumbens neurons may not be the cause of sensitized behavior. Synapse 69:607–610, 2015 . © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.