NEURONS IN ACCUMBENS SUBTERRITORIES OF THE RAT - PHASIC FIRING TIME-LOCKED WITHIN SECONDS OF INTRAVENOUS COCAINE SELF-INFUSION

Individual neurons were recorded extracellularly in the nucleus accumb ens (NAcc) of rats during cocaine self-administration sessions. NAcc n eurons exhibited a variety of phasic changes in firing rate within the few seconds before and/or after cocaine self-infusion. Analysis of th e topographical distribution of the phasic firing patterns showed that there were no differences between NAcc subterritories in the nature o f phasic changes in firing exhibited by neurons in relation to cocaine self-infusion. However, the prevalence of phasic firing was lower in the border regions of the caudal shell and within the caudal shell its elf relative to the remainder of the NAcc. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B .V.