Fig. 2: Pharmacological modulation of AMPK activity in the NAcsh controls cocaine reinforcement and motivation.
From: Novel role of AMPK in cocaine reinforcement via regulating CRTC1
A Timeline of the experiment. The rats were trained to self-administer intravenous injections of cocaine under an FR1 schedule in daily 3 h sessions. The response requirement was gradually increased to FR5, and training continued until cocaine intake stabilized. Following acquisition and stabilization, the rats received intra-NAcsh infusions of vehicle or the AMPK activator AICAR or AMPK inhibitor compound C (comp C). The rats then underwent a between-session dose-response test and progressive-ratio (PR) test. Infusions (B), active nosepokes (C), and inactive nosepokes (D) during daily 3 h self-administration sessions. E Repeated infusions of AICAR or comp C in the NAcsh produced opposite changes in cocaine self-administration dose-response curves after the cessation of treatment (n = 7–9/group). F Comp C-treated animals subsequently achieved a higher ratio of lever-press responses per cocaine injection before ceasing self-administration in the progressive-ratio test at the 0.75 mg/kg dose of cocaine (n = 7–8/group). The data are expressed as mean ± SEM. Post hoc analyses were performed using the Tukey test. *p < 0.05, compared with vehicle group.
