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• Low (0.33 mg/kg) dose of LY235959 could increase mice locomotor activity. • High (3.0 mg/kg) dose of LY235959 could induce some symptoms caused by NMDAR inhibition. • Medium (1.0 mg/kg) dose of LY235959 could disrupt development phase of METH-induced behavioral sensitization. Drug addiction can be described as a chronic and relapsing brain disease. Behavioral sensitization is common animal model in the study of addiction and N-Methyl-D-aspartate subtype of glutamate receptor (NMDAR) is believed play key role in this process. LY235959 is a competitive NMDAR antagonist, however, its effect on methamphetamine (METH)-induced behavioral sensitization is not been reported yet. In this study, we choose three doses (0.33 mg/kg, 1.0 mg/kg, and 3.0 mg/kg) of LY235959 to investigate its effect on locomotor activity, METH-induced behavioral sensitization and different phases of it in C57/BL6 mice. We also used western blotting to examine the PP2A/B – AKT cascade which had been proved involved in METH-induced behavioral sensitization in the dorsal striatum (DS). The results showed that only 0.33 mg/kg LY235959 increased locomotor activity dramatically, however, 1.0 mg/kg and 3.0 mg/kg of LY235959 could attenuate METH-induced behavioral sensitization markedly. We also found that LY235959 only disrupted the development phase of METH-induced behavioral sensitization and the following western blotting results further indicated that PP2A/B – AKT cascade might involve in this process. Taken together, these results indicated that LY235959 attenuates development phase of METH-induced behavioral sensitization through the PP2A/B - AKT cascade in the DS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]