Pharmacological blockade of either, cannabinoid CB1 or CB2 receptors, prevents both cocaine-induced conditioned locomotion and cocaine-induced reduction of cell proliferation in the hippocampus of adult male rats.

Addiction to major drugs of abuse such as cocaine has been recently linked to alterations on adult neurogenesis in the hippocampus. The endogenous cannabinoid system modulated this proliferative response since pharmacological activation/blockade of cannabinoid CB1 and CB2 receptors by modulating not only neurogenesis but also cell death in the brain. In the present study, we evaluated whether the endogenous cannabinoid system affects cocaine-induced alterations in cell proliferation . To this end we examined if pharmacological blockade of either CB1 (Rimonabant, 3 mg/kg) or CB2 receptors (AM630, 3 mg/kg) affects cell proliferation (labeled with BrdU), found in the subventricular zone (SVZ) of the lateral ventricles and the dentate subgranular zone (SGZ). In addition, we measured cell apoptosis (monitored by the expression of cleaved caspase-3) and glial activation ( by analizing the expression of GFAP and Iba-1) in the striatum and hippocampus, during acute or repeated (4 days) cocaine administration (20 mg/kg). Results showed that acute cocaine decreased the number of BrdU+ cells in SVZ and SGZ. In contrast, repeated cocaine reduced the number of BrdU+ cells in SVZ only. Both acute and repeated cocaine increased the number of cleaved caspase-3+, GFAP+ and Iba1+ cells in the hippocampus, an effect counteracted by AM630 or Rimonabant that increased the number of BrdU+, GFAP+ and Iba1+ cells in the hippocampus. These results indicate that changes on neurogenic, apoptotic and gliosis processes, which were produced as a consequence of repeated cocaine administration, were normalized by the pharmacological blockade of CB1 and CB2. The restoring effects of cannabinoid receptor blockade on hippocampal cell proliferation were associated with a prevention of the induction of conditioned locomotion, but not of cocaine-induced sensitization