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Motor stimulant effects of ethanol and acetaldehyde injected into the posterior ventral tegmental area of rats: role of opioid receptors

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Abstract

Rationale

A recently published study has shown that microinjections of ethanol, or its metabolite, acetaldehyde into the substantia nigra pars reticulata, are able to produce behavioral activation in rats. Another brain site that could participate in such effects is the ventral tegmental area (VTA).

Objectives

We have investigated the locomotor-activating effects of local microinjections of ethanol and acetaldehyde into the posterior VTA of rats and the role of opioid receptors in such effects.

Materials

Cannulae were placed into the posterior VTA to perform microinjections of ethanol (75 or 150 nmol) or acetaldehyde (25 or 250 nmol) in animals not previously microinjected or microinjected with either the nonselective opioid antagonist naltrexone (13.2 nmol) or the irreversible antagonist of the µ-opioid receptors β-funaltrexamine (β-FNA; 2.5 nmol). After injections, spontaneous activity was monitored for 60 min.

Results

Injections of ethanol or acetaldehyde into the VTA increased the locomotor activity of rats with maximal effects at doses of 150 nmol for ethanol and 250 nmol for acetaldehyde. These locomotor-activating effects were reduced by previously administering naltrexone (13.2 nmol) or β-FNA (2.5 nmol) into the VTA.

Conclusions

The posterior VTA is another brain region involved in the locomotor activation after the intracerebroventricular administration of ethanol or acetaldehyde. Our data indicate that opioid receptors, particularly the µ-opioid receptors, could be the target of the actions of these compounds in the VTA. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that acetaldehyde could be a mediator of some ethanol effects.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Fundación para el Estudio, Prevención y Asistencia a las Drogodependencias (FEPAD), Generalitat Valenciana, Spain and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (BFU 2007-67912-C02-02). MJSC and LH are recipients of predoctoral fellowships from the Cinc Segles Program, Universitat de València.

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  1. Departament de Farmàcia i Tecnología Farmacèutica, Universitat de València, Avda Vicente Andrés Estellés s/n, 46100, Burjassot, Spain

    María José Sánchez-Catalán, Lucía Hipólito, Teodoro Zornoza, Ana Polache & Luis Granero

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  1. María José Sánchez-Catalán
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  2. Lucía Hipólito
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  3. Teodoro Zornoza
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  5. Luis Granero
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Correspondence to Luis Granero.

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Sánchez-Catalán, M.J., Hipólito, L., Zornoza, T. et al. Motor stimulant effects of ethanol and acetaldehyde injected into the posterior ventral tegmental area of rats: role of opioid receptors. Psychopharmacology 204, 641–653 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-009-1495-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-009-1495-6

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