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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2013 Nov 1.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Neurosci. 2013 Mar 31;16(5):632–638. doi: 10.1038/nn.3369

Figure 4. Inhibition of indirect-pathway D2-MSNs increases motivation for cocaine.

Figure 4

(a) Bright field image of sagittal section and (b) fluorescence image showing DREADD expression in NAc neurons and projections to ventral pallidum. aca, anterior commisure ant; ac, anterior commisure. Scale bars = 500 μm. (c) Representative traces of ChR2-evoked IPSC recorded in ventral pallidum neurons before (grey) and after CNO (10 μM) application. (d) Time course of the CNO inhibition of IPSC amplitude in ventral pallidum neurons (n = 7). (e) A diagram describing the experimental timeline. (f) Cocaine intake for animals receiving saline (open) or CNO (solid). (g) Left, Breakpoint values achieved by individual mouse during 4-6 consecutive progressive ratio sessions (PR test) in which mice randomly received saline (open) or CNO (solid, 1 mg/kg). Inset, BP values after CNO normalized to individual saline values (h) BP values achieved by individual mouse during 4 consecutive progressive ratio sessions (PR test) in which mice randomly received saline (open) or D2 agonist quinelorane (gray, 0.03 mg/kg). Inset, BP after quinelorane normalized to individual saline values. *p < 0.05, paired t-test (f) and one sample t-test (g, h). Data are mean ± SEM.