Research Library / Article Summary
Modeling the Impact of Social Contact on Substance Use
Plain-English AddictionTube research summary with source link, DOI, key finding, and recovery relevance.
Neuropsychopharmacology • 02 Dec 2016 • Research
alcoholcocainemethamphetaminenicotinedopaminerelapse
Research focus
This article may help explain addiction science through research on alcohol, cocaine, methamphetamine, nicotine. The source abstract begins by describing: “Anacker AM, Loftis JM, Ryabinin AE (2011).”
Key finding: Article CAS Google Scholar Download references
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, alcohol, cocaine, methamphetamine. The source abstract begins by describing: “Polysubstance use disorders ( ≥ 2 substance use disorders (SUDs)) are associated with high morbidity and mortality.”
Key finding: The elevated prevalence of polysubstance use disorders associated with early initiation of substance use underscores the critical need for evidence-based strategies to prevent alcohol, cannabis, and nicotine consumption before age 21.
Molecular Psychiatry • 29 Apr 2026 • Research
opioidalcoholcocainemethamphetaminecannabisnicotine
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on alcohol, cannabis, nicotine, dopamine. The source abstract begins by describing: “In this Opinion article, Nutt and colleagues examine the history of and current evidence for the dopamine theory of addiction.”
Key finding: These observations have implications for understanding reward and treatment responses in various addictions.
Nature Reviews Neuroscience • 15 Apr 2015 • Reviews
alcoholcannabisnicotinedopaminebrain sciencetreatment
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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.
Nature Neuroscience • 02 Mar 2014 • Research
cocainedopaminebrain sciencecravingrelapsegenetics
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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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