Neuroscience Letters
June 4, 2022
Jacob A. Plocinski, Kevin T. Ball
Behavioral sensitization to MDMA is observed in the vast majority of rats if tested in the same environment in which previous MDMA exposure occurred, but not if tested in a novel, unpaired context. Previous studies have revealed a critical role for the prelimbic region of medial prefrontal cortex (PL) in the expression of sensitization to MDMA, but these studies assessed sensitization only in...
Behavioural Brain Research
November 1, 2015
Kevin T. Ball, Hanna Jarsocrak, Johanna Hyacinthe et al.
Although exposure to acute stress has been shown to reinstate extinguished responding for a wide variety of drugs, no studies have investigated stress-induced reinstatement in animals with a history of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA; ecstasy) self-administration. Thus, rats were trained to press a lever for MDMA (0.50 mg/kg/infusion) in daily sessions, and lever pressing was...
Behavioural Brain Research
November 1, 2014
Kevin T. Ball, Mylissa Slane
Pre-clinical studies of individual differences in addiction vulnerability have been increasing over recent years, but the amphetamine derivative 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA; ecstasy) has received relatively little attention in this regard. Previously, we reported large individual differences both in rats' initial behavioral response to experimenter-administered MDMA and their degree...
Psychopharmacology
December 1, 2012
Kevin T. Ball, Mylissa Slane
The amphetamine derivative 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA; ecstasy) is a widely abused drug, particularly in adolescent and young adult populations. Although it was shown that MDMA-associated cues reinstate extinguished MDMA seeking in an animal relapse model, there is little information regarding the neural mechanisms underlying this behavior. Because the medial prefrontal cortex...
Behavioural Pharmacology
October 6, 2011
Kevin T. Ball, Jessalyn E. Klein, Jacob A. Plocinski et al.
28 citations
To begin to characterize the temporal profile of behavioral sensitization to the amphetamine derivative 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), rats were treated with either saline or MDMA (5.0 mg/kg) twice daily for 5 days, followed by a challenge injection of MDMA (2.5 mg/kg) either 15 or 100 days later. Because we found previously that contextual drug associations are important for the...
The FASEB Journal
April 1, 2010
Kevin T. Ball
MDMA is a widely used amphetamine derivative that increases dopamine and serotonin transmission via its interaction with monoamine transporters. Compared to other psychostimulants, little is known about the long‐term neurobehavioral effects of MDMA. We conducted a series of studies aimed at elucidating the effects of MDMA administration on behavior, limbic cortico‐striatal neuronal structure,...
Neuroscience
May 5, 2009
Kevin T. Ball, C L Wellman, E Fortenberry et al.
Repeated, intermittent exposure to the psychomotor stimulants amphetamine and cocaine induces a progressive and enduring augmentation of their locomotor-activating effects, known as behavioral sensitization, which is accompanied by similarly stable adaptations in the dendritic structure of cortico-striatal neurons. We examined whether repeated exposure to the increasingly abused amphetamine...
Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior
October 2007
Kevin T. Ball, Kelly M Walsh, George V. Rebec
The widely used recreational drug MDMA (ecstasy) supports self-administration in animals, but it is not known whether MDMA-associated cues are able to reinstate drug seeking in a relapse model of drug addiction. To assess this possibility, drug-naïve rats were trained to press a lever for MDMA infusions (0.30 mg/kg/infusion, i.v.) paired with a compound cue (light and tone) in daily 2 h...
European Journal of Neuroscience
July 1, 2006
Kevin T. Ball, Daniel Budreau, George V. Rebec
40 citations
Abstract To investigate the neuronal mechanisms underlying the behavioural alterations that accompany repeated exposure to MDMA (ecstasy), we recorded the activity of > 200 striatal units in response to multiple, intermittent, locomotor‐activating doses (5.0 mg/kg) of MDMA. Rats were treated with once‐daily injections of either saline or MDMA for 5 days when housed in their home cage, followed...