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Stress and cocaine interact to modulate basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF-2) expression in rat brain
Fabio Fumagalli1, Laura Di Pasquale, Lucia Caffino
1Department of Pharmacological Sciences, University of Milan, Via Balzaretti 9, 20133, Milan, Italy.
Psychopharmacology
|October 5, 2007
Summary
Stress and cocaine interact to alter basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF-2) gene expression in the brain. The impact depends on stress duration and brain region, revealing molecular targets for understanding stress and cocaine vulnerability.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Molecular Biology
- Addiction Research
Background:
- Basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF-2) is crucial for cell survival, synaptic plasticity, and is modulated by stress and cocaine.
- Previous studies established stress and cocaine's individual effects on FGF-2 expression.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how acute or repeated stress influences cocaine-induced changes in FGF-2 gene expression.
- To understand the interaction between stress and cocaine on FGF-2 modulation in specific brain regions.
Main Methods:
- Rats were exposed to acute or repeated stress paradigms.
- Cocaine administration was used to assess FGF-2 gene expression changes.
- FGF-2 expression was analyzed in the prefrontal cortex and striatum.
Main Results:
- Stress and cocaine interact to significantly alter FGF-2 expression in the rat prefrontal cortex and striatum.
- In the prefrontal cortex, acute stress potentiated cocaine's effect, while chronic stress blocked it.
- In the striatum, repeated stress enhanced the cocaine-induced FGF-2 response, with no interaction observed for acute stress and single cocaine exposure.
Conclusions:
- Stress and cocaine interact to modify FGF-2 expression in a region-specific and stress-duration-dependent manner.
- These findings highlight FGF-2 as a potential molecular target mediating stress's influence on cocaine sensitivity.
- Understanding these interactions is key to elucidating brain vulnerability mechanisms in stress and addiction.
