Abstract
Relief of pain is rewarding. Using a model of experimental postsurgical pain we show that blockade of afferent input from the injury with local anesthetic elicits conditioned place preference, activates ventral tegmental dopaminergic cells, and increases dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens. Importantly, place preference is associated with increased activity in midbrain dopaminergic neurons and blocked by dopamine antagonists injected into the nucleus accumbens. The data directly support the hypothesis that relief of pain produces negative reinforcement through activation of the mesolimbic reward-valuation circuitry.
MeSH terms
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Afferent Pathways / drug effects
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Afferent Pathways / physiopathology
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Anesthetics, Local / administration & dosage
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Animals
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Disease Models, Animal
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Dopamine Antagonists / administration & dosage
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Limbic System / drug effects
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Limbic System / physiopathology
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Male
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Models, Neurological
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Nerve Block
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Nucleus Accumbens / drug effects
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Nucleus Accumbens / physiopathology
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Pain / drug therapy
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Pain / physiopathology*
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Pain / psychology*
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Pain, Postoperative / drug therapy
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Pain, Postoperative / physiopathology
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Pain, Postoperative / psychology
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Rats
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Rats, Sprague-Dawley
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Reinforcement, Psychology*
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Reward*
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Ventral Tegmental Area / drug effects
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Ventral Tegmental Area / physiopathology
Substances
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Anesthetics, Local
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Dopamine Antagonists