changes in the electrical activity of prefrontal neurons following methamphetamine-induced conditioned place preference in the rat

Introduction: methamphetamine (meth) addiction is an epidemic-growing problem globally. studies confirmed a solid linkage between the prefrontal cortex (pfc) and drug seeking. the present study aimed to investigate pfc neural activity changes after injection of meth following meth-induced conditioned place preference (cpp) in the rats. methods: after the development of cpp (0.5mg/kg meth for three days, sc), in vivo single-unit recordings were carried out the day after the post-test (post-conditioning day). on recording day, after stabilization and baseline recording (a 10-min period), the injection of meth (0.5mg/kg, sc) was performed and then, pfc neural activity was recorded for a 30-min period. results: the results revealed that the injection of meth on the post-conditioning test significantly increases pfc neurons’ firing rate in animals that received meth during the cpp paradigm. conclusion: it seems that maybe, pfc neurons appear to be implicated in the associated meth reward pathway and repeated exposure to meth affected the sensitivity of neurons in this area.