Gamma-vinyl GABA attenuates cocaine-induced lowering of brain stimulation reward thresholds

Gamma-vinyl GABA (GVG, also referred to as vigabatrin), an irreversible inhibitor of GABA transaminase (GABA-T), raises levels of GABA in nerve terminals, inhibits striatal dopamine release, and attenuates cocaine-induced increases in extracellular dopamine in the striatum and nucleus accumbens. In order to determine the action of GVG on dopamine-mediated reward, we examined its effects on the threshold for rewarding brain stimulation in male F-344 rats. GVG dose-dependently raised brain stimulation reward (BSR) thresholds at doses of 200, 300, and 400 mg/kg without significant effects on motor performance as measured by response latencies. In order to determine if GVG had similar modulatory effects on cocaine-induced lowering of BSR thresholds, the effective doses of GVG were co-administered with 2.5 and 5.0 mg/kg cocaine, doses that significantly lower BSR thresholds. The 400 mg/kg dose of GVG significantly blocked the lowering of thresholds seen at each dose of cocaine. Cocaine in combination with 200 or 300 mg/kg GVG, doses of GVG that significantly raise BSR thresholds, resulted in thresholds not significantly different from those obtained with cocaine alone. These data demonstrate that, at the doses tested, GVG is more effective at modulating basal reward thresholds that at modulating thresholds lowered by cocaine, implying that as dopaminergic activity increases, GABAergic activity must also increase in order to exert its inhibitory influence on dopaminergic activity.