Figure 4.
Enhanced dopamine (DA) levels after 24-h DBS and alcohol re-exposure. (a) Tissue DA contents in the nucleus accumbens (NAcs) of alcohol-non-dependent and -dependent rats following either 24-h sham stimulation (24 h NAc sham, n=8–9) or NAcs DBS (24 h NAc DBS, n=6). (b) Extracellular DA levels during either the NAc sham stimulation (n=7) or bilateral NAc DBS (n=6) and following intraperitoneal administration of ascending alcohol doses (0.5, 1 and 1.5 g kg−1, arrows) in alcohol-dependent, 3-week abstinent rats. DBS started at the time point 0 and continued throughout the sample collection. Data are presented relative to baseline DA levels (100%), which was defined as the mean of the last four dialysate samples collected before DBS started. * indicates significant difference from the control sham group, § indicates significant difference to respective non-dependent rat group, # indicates significant differences from the baseline condition. Data are presented as means ±s.e.m., P<0.05.