Amphetamine treatment affects the extra-hypothalamic vasopressinergic system in a sex- and nucleus-dependent manner

Abstract

The lateral septum (LS), a brain structure implicated in addictive behaviors, regulates the activation of dopaminergic neurons in the ventral tegmental area. Vasopressinergic projections from the extended amygdala to the LS, which are sexually dimorphic, could be responsible for the vulnerability to addiction in a sex-dependent manner. The aim of the present work is to study modulatory effects of amphetamine (AMPH) on the expression of vasopressin (AVP) in the vasopressinergic extra-hypothalamic system in sensitized male and female rats. Adult male and female Sprague Dawley rats underwent an AMPH-locomotor sensitization protocol. Acute AMPH increased AVP mRNA expression in medial amygdala (MeA), while AMPH-induced sensitization increased AVP mRNA expression in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) only in females. Interestingly, the increase in AVP expression in BNST was higher in estrus females compared to diestrus females and acute AMPH resulted in a decrease in AVP levels in the LS, only in males. Thus, there are complex and region-specific interactions between AMPH and the extrahypothalamic vasopressinergic system in the brain, underlying possible alterations in different behaviors caused by acute and chronic AMPH exposure.

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