Drug seeking in response to a priming injection of MDMA in rats: relationship to initial sensitivity to self-administered MDMA and dorsal striatal dopamine
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology March 25, 2010 Joyce Colussi‐mas, Richard J. Wise, Alex Howard et al. 51 citations
In rats that learned to self-administer MDMA, a later injection of the drug triggered renewed drug-seeking behavior. The strength of this drug seeking was greater in rats that had acquired self-administration more quickly and in those that showed larger MDMA-induced increases in dopamine in the dorsal striatum. Rats that never learned to self-administer MDMA or that received the drug passively did not show this effect. The findings suggest that individual differences in initial sensitivity to MDMA's reinforcing effects and in the drug's ability to elevate striatal dopamine influence the propensity to seek the drug after a period of abstinence.