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Repeated N-Acetylcysteine Administration Alters Plasticity-Dependent Effects Of Cocaine, Aric Madayag, Doug Lobner, Kristen S. Kau, John R. Mantsch, Omer Abdulhameed, Matthew Hearing, Mark D. Grier, David A. Baker

Biomedical Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Cocaine produces a persistent reduction in cystine–glutamate exchange via system x_c− in the nucleus accumbens that may contribute to pathological glutamate signaling linked to addiction. System x_c− influences glutamate neurotransmission by maintaining basal, extracellular glutamate in the nucleus accumbens, which, in turn, shapes synaptic activity by stimulating group II metabotropic glutamate autoreceptors. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that a long-term reduction in system x_c− activity is part of the plasticity produced by repeated cocaine that results in the establishment of compulsive drug seeking. To test this, the cysteine prodrug N-acetylcysteine …