Gene transcripts selectively down-regulated in the shell of the nucleus accumbens long after heroin self-administration are up-regulated in the core independent of response contingency 1 EDWIN H. JACOBS * , 2 , TACO J. DE VRIES * , AUGUST B. SMIT † and ANTON N. M. SCHOFFELMEER * ,3 * Research Institute Neurosciences Vrije Universiteit, Drug Abuse Program, Department of Medical Pharmacology, VU Medical Center, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands; † Research Institute Neurosciences Vrije Universiteit, Drug Abuse Program, Department of Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology, Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands 3 Correspondence: Research Institute Neurosciences Vrije Universiteit, Department of Medical Pharmacology, VU Medical Center, Van der Boechorststraat 7, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands. E-mail: anm.schoffelmeer@vumc.nl <h3>SPECIFIC AIM</h3> In view of the differential role of the nucleus accumbens (NAc) shell and core in motivational behavior and the functional relationship between these subregions, the present study was designed to examine the long-term effects of heroin exposure on the expression in the NAc core of a preselected set of transcripts previously shown to be down-regulated in the NAc shell specifically by self-administration of heroin and cocaine. We also aimed to study the role of response
/lp/fed-of-american-socs-for-experimental-biology/gene-transcripts-selectively-down-regulated-in-the-shell-of-the-6LB3v0eRGO