Research Library / Article Summary
Involvement of the ghrelin system in the maintenance and reinstatement of cocaine-motivated behaviors: a role of adrenergic action at peripheral β1 receptors
Plain-English AddictionTube research summary with source link, DOI, key finding, and recovery relevance.
Neuropsychopharmacology • 18 Dec 2021 • Research
cocainedopaminebrain sciencerelapsegeneticstreatment
Research focus
This article may help explain addiction science through research on cocaine, dopamine, brain science, relapse. The source abstract begins by describing: “Cocaine addiction is a significant medical and public concern.”
Key finding: These findings demonstrate that the endogenous ghrelin system plays an important role in cocaine-related addictive behaviors and suggest that manipulating and targeting this system may be viable for mitigating cocaine use disorder.
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, 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 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 alcohol, cannabis, brain science, withdrawal. The source abstract begins by describing: “Alcohol use disorder (AUD) remains a pervasive public health issue with limited effective treatments.”
Key finding: These findings indicate that chronic CBD administration attenuates both behavioral and neurobiological facets of alcohol dependence by modulating neuronal excitability and preventing neurodegeneration, supporting its therapeutic potential for AUD and providing mechanistic insights for future research.
Neuropsychopharmacology • 10 Jul 2025 • Research
alcoholcannabisbrain sciencewithdrawalrelapsegenetics
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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: “Persistent vulnerability to drug-seeking is driven by enduring synaptic adaptations, yet current μ-opioid receptor-targeting pharmacotherapies provide limited efficacy against these neuroadaptations.”
Key finding: By targeting a pathway independent of classical opioid receptor signaling, CA4 inhibition represents a mechanistically distinct strategy that may reduce relapse vulnerability in OUD.
Neuropsychopharmacology • 21 Jan 2026 • Research
opioidcocainebrain sciencewithdrawalrelapsetreatment
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