Neuro-functional correlates of the protective effects of exercise against cocaine sensitization and dopamine D2 receptors density: a [18F]Fallypride microPET study.

Preclinical studies suggest that free access to a running wheel can attenuate behavioural effects of addictive drugs such as psychomotor sensitization to cocaine in rodents. This phenomenon has an integral role in the process of drug addiction in craving and relapse (Steketee and Kalivas, 2011). Free wheel-running was recently shown to be efficacious at preventing the initiation or the long-term expression of psychomotor sensitization to cocaine in mice or rats (Diaz et al., 2013; Geuzaine and Tirelli, 2014). In the present study, we investigated the neuro-functional correlates of the protection against psychomotor sensitization to cocaine afforded by free wheel-running on dopaminergic neurotransmission, using microPET imaging with [18F]Fallypride, a Dopamine 2 receptor (D2R) antagonist.

Sixty-four 28-day-old female C57BL/6J mice were randomly assigned to one of the two housing conditions, defined by the presence or the absence of a running wheel in the cage over a 6-week pre-testing period. Since mice from the two types of housing received either saline (controls) or cocaine (8 mg/kg, i.p.) during testing (9 once-daily sessions to establish sensitization plus 1 single session to test its expression), a basic 2x2 randomized blocks design was generated (2-way ANOVA and planned comparisons; n=10). Experimentation lasted 85 days, with a 42-day period of pre-testing and a 3-week interval preceding the test for long-term expression of sensitization (LTES). All mice underwent a microPET (Focus 120, Siemens) the day after the LTES. The microPET protocol consisted of a 60 min. dynamic acquisition after the injection of 10 MBq of [18F]Fallypride in the tail vein.

Wheel-running strongly and significantly attenuated LTES (interaction) to cocaine (Cohen’s d=1.63; t(21)=3.75, p<.001) and cocaine-treated mice exhibited a clear-cut and significant increase (main effect) of the [18F]Fallypride BP (d=0.88, t(31)=2.45, p =.02). Wheel-running induced an overall moderate-sized decrease (main effect) of the [18F]Fallypride BP, but without achieving statistical significance (d=0.64, t(31)=1.79, p =.08). These findings suggest that LTES is associated with an increase of the [18F]Fallypride BP in the mouse striatum, probably reflecting an increase in postsynaptic D2R density in this region. Also, the protecting effect of free running on psychomotor sensitization goes together with a decrease in D2R density in the striatum of exercised mice. We intend to complement the present study with an identical experiment to reach a total number of 80 mice (n=20). This will confer to our study a sufficient power (80%) for the main effect of wheel-running exercise on [18F]Fallypride BP to be detected at an alpha-level of 5%. Finally, autoradiography studies, performed on the same mice with [18F]Fallypride, will strengthen our in vivo results.