Analysis Tools
growth/size/body
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• mice exhibit a smaller body size than control mice
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behavior/neurological
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• mice exhibit an increased level of cocaine self-administration (CSA) across a broad range of cocaine doses and maintain a greater level of cocaine intake under a progressive ratio schedule of reinforcement, indicating increased motivation for cocaine consumption
• effect on voluntary cocaine consumption occurs early and is maintained throughout a 10-day period of CSA testing with no changes in active lever preference during the last 3 days of CSA or in cocaine-induced acute locomotor responses
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• in the Barnes maze test, mice show a significantly reduced ability to correctly recognize the escape hole relative to control mice
• however, no significant differences are observed in the number of primary errors made or in the total distance traveled
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• in a food self-administration (FSA) assay using a chocolate solution reinforcer, mice exhibit an increased level of voluntary food intake and achieve a greater final ratio in progressive ratio tests, indicating increased motivation for food reinforcement
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• in the elevated plus maze, mice spend more time in the open arms than control mice, indicating reduced anxiety-like behavior
• in the open field test, mice show a significant increase in total distance traveled but spend significantly less time in the center than control mice
• however, motor coordination is normal in the rotarod test
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• in the novel object recognition test, mice spend a similar amount of time exploring novel versus familiar objects, unlike control mice
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• females are described as poor mothers
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nervous system
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• mice exhibit a slightly smaller overall brain volume than control mice
• however, MRI brain scans revealed no gross neuroanatomical abnormalities
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• glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) staining indicates a slight trend towards an increase in the number of glial cells in the nucleus accumbens (NAc)
• however, the density of neuronal cells in the NAc is normal, as shown by the number of neurofilament heavy chain (NF-H)-positive and neuronal nuclear protein (NeuN)-positive cells
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• mice exhibit a slightly smaller hippocampus volume than control mice
• however, after normalization relative to overall brain volume, hippocampus volume is not significantly altered
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• mice exhibit altered excitatory/inhibitory synaptic balance in hippocampal and cortical brain regions
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• mice show a significant increase in the number of excitatory synapses in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus
• however, excitatory synapse density is not altered in the prefrontal cortex
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• mice show a significant decrease in the number of inhibitory synapses in the prefrontal cortex
• however, inhibitory synapse density is not changed in the dentate gyrus
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• mice show a significant decrease in the number of inhibitory synapses in the prefrontal cortex
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• mice show increased excitatory hippocampal synaptic transmission
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• granule cells in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus show a significant increase in the frequency (but not amplitude) of miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents (mEPSCs)
• however, the frequency and amplitude of miniature inhibitory postsynaptic currents (mIPSCs) are unaffected
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