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- Title
Arousal Effect of Caffeine Depends on Adenosine A<sub>2A</sub> Receptors in the Shell of the Nucleus Accumbens.
- Authors
Lazarus, Michael; Hai-Ying Shen; Yoan Cherasse; Wei-Min Qu; Zhi-Li Huang; Bass, Caroline E.; Winsky-Sommerer, Raphaelle; Semba, Kazue; Fredholm, Bertil B.; Boison, Detlev; Hayaishi, Osamu; Urade, Yoshihiro; Jiang-Fan Chen
- Abstract
Caffeine, the most widely used psychoactive compound, is an adenosine receptor antagonist. It promotes wakefulness by blocking adenosine A2A receptors (A2ARs) in the brain, but the specific neurons on which caffeine acts to produce arousal have not been identified. Using selective gene deletion strategies based on the Cre/loxP technology in mice and focal RNA interference to silence the expression of A2ARs in rats by local infection with adeno-associated virus carrying short-hairpin RNA, we report that the A2ARs in the shell region of the nucleus accumbens (NAc) are responsible for the effect of caffeine on wakefulness. Caffeine-induced arousal was not affected in rats when A2ARs were focally removed from the NAc core or other A2AR-positive areas of the basal ganglia. Our observations suggest that caffeine promotes arousal by activating pathways that traditionally have been associated with motivational and motor responses in the brain.
- Subjects
CAFFEINE; ADENOSINES; LABORATORY mice; RNA; NUCLEUS accumbens; BASAL ganglia
- Publication
Journal of Neuroscience, 2011, Vol 31, Issue 27, p10067
- ISSN
0270-6474
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1523/JNEUROSCI.6730-10.2011