College of Life Sciences, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, 241000, China; Department of Physiology, Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, 241000, China.
Department of Physiology, Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, 241000, China.
Neurosci Lett. 2020 Mar 16;721:134819. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2020.134819. Epub 2020 Feb 4.
It is widely reported that drug addiction involves the strengthening of specific reward circuits through N-methyl-d-aspartic acid receptor (NMDAR)-dependent synaptic potentiation, and several lines of evidence strongly implicate NMDA receptor 2 (NR2) subunits in drug abuse. To explore the potential mechanism of heroin dependence, this study examined changes in the expression levels of NR2 subunits NR2A-D in the prelimbic (PL) region of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) after repeated heroin administration and subsequent abstinence. The conditioned place preference (CPP) test confirmed successful induction of heroin dependence and withdrawal. Western blotting and qRT-PCR revealed no differences in NR2A subunit expression among heroin-exposure, heroin-withdrawal, and control group rats; in contrast, expression of NR2B was significantly higher in the heroin-exposure group, whereas expression levels of NR2C and NR2D were significantly higher in the heroin-withdrawal group relative to the controls. Further studies are needed to identify the functional significance based on alterations of NR2 subunits.
据广泛报道，药物成瘾涉及通过 N-甲基-D-天冬氨酸受体 (NMDAR) 依赖性突触增强来强化特定的奖励回路，并且有几条证据强烈暗示 NMDA 受体 2 (NR2) 亚基在药物滥用中起作用。为了探讨海洛因依赖的潜在机制，本研究检测了重复海洛因给药和随后戒断后内侧前额叶皮层 (mPFC) 额前皮质 (PL) 区 NR2 亚基 NR2A-D 的表达水平变化。条件位置偏好 (CPP) 测试证实成功诱导了海洛因依赖和戒断。Western blot 和 qRT-PCR 显示，在海洛因暴露组、海洛因戒断组和对照组大鼠中，NR2A 亚基的表达没有差异；相比之下，NR2B 在海洛因暴露组中的表达显著升高，而 NR2C 和 NR2D 的表达水平在海洛因戒断组中明显高于对照组。需要进一步的研究来确定基于 NR2 亚基改变的功能意义。
