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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2024.05.20.595065

The Prefrontal Cortex to the Hippocampus Glutamatergic Pathway Regulates Reward Effects of Methamphetamine

Zhao, D.·Shi, W.·Li, M.·Xue, R.·Wang, H.·Zhang, L.·Huang, M.·Bai, L.·Gu, R.·Li, Y.·Zhang, X.·Kalivas, P.·Bai, J.
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Abstract

Methamphetamine (METH) induces reward effects. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) plays a role in regulating top-down. The hippocampus is closely involved reward memory. However, the direct projects from the PFC to the hippocampus have not been studied well. Here, we use conditioned place preference (CPP), a recombinant adeno-associated virus 2/9 (rAAV2/9) and optogenetic approaches to explore a role in METH-CPP for a novel pathway projecting from the medial prefrontal prelimbic cortex (PrL) directly to the dorsal hippocampus CA1 (dCA1). Expressing CaMKII-ChR2 or CaMKII-eNpHR3.0 in the PrL and optically stimulating in the dCA1 blocks or enhances METH-CPP, respectively. Moreover, silencing the PrL to dCA1 glutamatergic pathway with tetanus neurotoxin (TeNT) enhances METH-CPP. These results identify a novel PrL-to-dCA1 glutamatergic pathway regulating METH-CPP.

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Zhao, D., Shi, W., Li, M., Xue, R., Wang, H., Zhang, L., Huang, M., Bai, L., Gu, R., Li, Y., Zhang, X., Kalivas, P., Bai, J.. 2024-05-21. The Prefrontal Cortex to the Hippocampus Glutamatergic Pathway Regulates Reward Effects of Methamphetamine. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.05.20.595065

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