Research Library / Article Summary
Designer receptors show role for ventral pallidum input to ventral tegmental area in cocaine seeking
Plain-English AddictionTube research summary with source link, DOI, key finding, and recovery relevance.
Nature Neuroscience • 02 Mar 2014 • Research
cocainedopaminebrain sciencecravingrelapsegeneticsanimal study
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on cocaine, dopamine, brain science, craving. The source abstract begins by describing: “The authors show that rostral ventral pallidum projections to the ventral tegmental area (VTA) are activated during cue-induced reinstatement of cocaine seeking, and DREADD inhibition of these projections blocks this behavior.”
Key finding: This double dissociation in ventral pallidum subregional roles in drug seeking is likely to be important for understanding the mesocorticolimbic circuits underlying reward seeking and addiction.
Why this may help: This may help explain why addiction can involve brain, behavior, mental health, craving, relapse, or treatment factors rather than simple willpower alone. It should be read as research information, not personal medical advice.
This article may help explain addiction science through research on cocaine, methamphetamine, dopamine, brain science. The source abstract begins by describing: “Converging evidence indicates that both dopamine and glutamate neurotransmission within the nucleus accumbens (NAc) play a role in psychostimulant self-administration and relapse in rodent models.”
Key finding: These findings indicate that in contrast to the well-recognized mesoaccumbal dopamine system that is critical to psychostimulant reward and relapse, there is a parallel mesoaccumbal glutamatergic system that suppresses reward and psychostimulant-seeking behavior.
Neuropsychopharmacology • 26 Jun 2024 • Research
cocainemethamphetaminedopaminebrain sciencerelapsegenetics
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on opioid, cocaine, dopamine, brain science. The source abstract begins by describing: “Persistent transcriptional events in ventral tegmental area (VTA) and other reward relevant brain regions contribute to enduring behavioral adaptations that characterize substance use disorder.”
Key finding: These findings establish an essential role for H3Q5dop, and its downstream transcriptional consequences, in heroin-induced functional plasticity in VTA.
Neuropsychopharmacology • 29 Jan 2022 • Research
opioidcocainedopaminebrain sciencerelapsegenetics
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on cocaine, dopamine, brain science, craving. The source abstract begins by describing: “Cocaine has actions in the peripheral nervous system that reliably precede—and thus predict—its soon-to-follow central rewarding effects.”
Key finding: These findings suggest that the conditioned peripheral effects of cocaine can contribute significantly to cocaine-induced (but not stress-induced) cocaine craving, and also suggest the cocaine cue as an important target for cue-exposure therapies for cocaine addiction.
Neuropsychopharmacology • 27 Mar 2013 • Research
cocainedopaminebrain sciencecravingrelapseanimal study
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on opioid, cocaine, brain science, withdrawal. The source abstract begins by describing: “Evidence indicates that the anterior (aIC), but not posterior (pIC), insular cortex promotes cued reinstatement of cocaine seeking after extinction in rats.”
Key finding: Moreover, the incubation of craving results suggest that new contingency learning is necessary to recruit the aIC in cued heroin seeking.
Neuropsychopharmacology • 18 Mar 2024 • Research
opioidcocainebrain sciencewithdrawalcravingrelapse
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on cocaine, brain science, craving, relapse. The source abstract begins by describing: “Cocaine use disorder represents a public health crisis with no FDA-approved medications for its treatment.”
Key finding: These findings suggest that gut bacteria, via their metabolites, are key regulators of drug-seeking behaviors, positioning the microbiome as a potential translational research target.
Neuropsychopharmacology • 02 Aug 2023 • Research
cocainebrain sciencecravingrelapsemental healthtreatment
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