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Simvastatin Blocks Reinstatement of Cocaine-induced Conditioned Place Preference in Male Mice with Brain Lipidome Remodeling

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Abstract

Drug-associated reward memories are conducive to intense craving and often trigger relapse. Simvastatin has been shown to regulate lipids that are involved in memory formation but its influence on other cognitive processes is elusive. Here, we used a mass spectrometry-based lipidomic method to evaluate the impact of simvastatin on the mouse brain in a cocaine-induced reinstatement paradigm. We found that simvastatin blocked the reinstatement of cocaine-induced conditioned place preference (CPP) without affecting CPP acquisition. Specifically, only simvastatin administered during extinction prevented cocaine-primed reinstatement. Global lipidome analysis showed that the nucleus accumbens was the region with the greatest degree of change caused by simvastatin. The metabolism of fatty-acids, phospholipids, and triacylglycerol was profoundly affected. Simvastatin reversed most of the effects on phospholipids induced by cocaine. The correlation matrix showed that cocaine and simvastatin significantly reshaped the lipid metabolic pathways in specific brain regions. Furthermore, simvastatin almost reversed all changes in the fatty acyl profile and unsaturation caused by cocaine. In summary, pre-extinction treatment with simvastatin facilitates cocaine extinction and prevents cocaine relapse with brain lipidome remodeling.

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Acknowledgments

This work was partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81871043 and 82071494), the National Science and Technology Major Project of China (2018ZX09201017 and 2018ZX09201018), and the 1·3·5 Project for Disciplines of Excellence, West China Hospital, Sichuan University (ZYGD18024).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Chengdu Center for Safety Evaluation of Drugs, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy and Collaborative Innovation Center for Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, China

    Wei Xu, Yuman He, Jiamei Zhang, Hongchun Li, Xuemei Wan, Menglu Li, Rui Xu, Haoluo Zhang, Yanping Dai, Linhong Jiang, Ying Zhao & Xiaobo Cen

  2. Sichuan Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Chengdu, 610041, China

    Wei Xu

  3. Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Drug Addiction, the Brain Cognition and Brain Disease Institute, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen-Hong Kong Institute of Brain Science-Shenzhen Fundamental Research Institutions, Shenzhen, 518055, China

    Wei Xu

  4. School of Pharmacy, Key Laboratory of Molecular Pharmacology and Drug Evaluation (Yantai University), Ministry of Education, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Drug Delivery System and Biotech Drugs in Universities of Shandong, Yantai University, Yantai, 264005, China

    Yonghai Wang & Haxiaoyu Liu

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  1. Wei Xu
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Xu, W., He, Y., Zhang, J. et al. Simvastatin Blocks Reinstatement of Cocaine-induced Conditioned Place Preference in Male Mice with Brain Lipidome Remodeling. Neurosci. Bull. 37, 1683–1702 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12264-021-00771-z

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