Jean-Pol Tassin

TL;DR: The results suggest that the mesocortical DA system is selectively activated by this stress induced by electric foot shocks, and the antipsychotic effects of neuroleptics are in part related to the blockade of postsynaptic DA receptors localised in areas innervated by the mesolimbic and mesocORTical DA systems.

TL;DR: The frontal areas receiving dopaminergic innervation coincide strikingly with the 'prefrontal cortex' as defined by neuroanatomical studies, which is assumed to be more or less equivalent to the prefrontal cortex of primates and derives direct projections from the amygdala.

TL;DR: Using the DOPAC/DA ratio as an index of the activity of the neurons, the mesocortical dopaminergic neurons were found to be selectively activated under stress since this ratio was increased in the frontal and cingular cortices but not in limbic structures such as the septum, the amygdala and the nucleus accumbens.

TL;DR: It is reported here that the activity of the mesocortico-frontal dopaminergic neurones was reduced after isolation, and it is shown that a 3-min electric foot-shock session is more effective in enhancing dopac levels or the dopac/DA ratio in the frontal cortex of isolated than grouped rats.

TL;DR: It is shown that the locomotor hyperactivities induced by d-amphetamine, cocaine, or morphine in mice lacking the α1b subtype of adrenergic receptors were dramatically decreased when compared with wild-type littermates, indicating a critical role of α1B-adrenergic receptors and noradrenergy transmission in the vulnerability to addiction.