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Updated: Aug 16, 2026

Single Cell Measurement of Dopamine Release with Simultaneous Voltage-clamp and Amperometry
Published on: November 21, 2012
Environment makes amphetamine-induced dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens totally impulse-dependent
Rossella Ventura1, Stefano Puglisi-Allegra
1Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università "La Sapienza," and Fondazione Santa Lucia IRCCS, Rome, Italy. rossella.ventura@uniroma1.it
Abstract:
Environmental condition such as food restriction has been shown to produce sensitization to the stimulant and rewarding effects of amphetamine in the low responsive DBA/2J genotype. Here, we report that food-restricted DBA/2J mice lose the impulse-independent component of psychostimulant-induced dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens that is replaced totally by impulse-dependent dopamine release. These results indicate for the first time that the crucial effect of environment-induced sensitization is a dramatic increase of the impulse dependent component.
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