Yoshimoto K, Yoshida T, Sorimachi Y, Hirano A, Takeuchi Y, Ueda S, Yasuhara M
Department of Legal Medicine, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Japan.
Physiol Behav. 1998 Jun 1;64(3):347-51. doi: 10.1016/s0031-9384(98)00067-5.
Neural functions in the nucleus accumbens (ACC) play an important role in alcohol drinking behavior. In the present study, we observed the effects of age and ethanol (EtOH) on dopamine (DA) and serotonin (5-HT) release in the ACC of freely moving 4-, 10-, and 16-month-old rats using brain microdialysis techniques. After co-perfusion with 200 mM ethanol, ACC DA, and 5-HT release were decreased significantly in 16-month-old rats compared to those at 4 months old. ACC DA and 5-HT neurons of aged rats were less sensitive to ethanol. On the other hand, both basal extracellular DA and 5-HT release in the ACC were significantly higher in 16-month-old than in 4-month-old rats. Therefore, aging results in opposite changes in basal and alcohol-induced DA and 5-HT release in the ACC.
伏隔核（ACC）中的神经功能在饮酒行为中起着重要作用。在本研究中，我们使用脑微透析技术观察了年龄和乙醇（EtOH）对自由活动的4个月、10个月和16个月大鼠ACC中多巴胺（DA）和5-羟色胺（5-HT）释放的影响。与4个月大的大鼠相比，16个月大的大鼠在与200 mM乙醇共同灌注后，ACC中DA和5-HT的释放显著减少。老年大鼠的ACC DA和5-HT神经元对乙醇的敏感性较低。另一方面，16个月大的大鼠ACC中基础细胞外DA和5-HT的释放均显著高于4个月大的大鼠。因此，衰老导致ACC中基础和酒精诱导的DA和5-HT释放出现相反的变化。
