Although it is challenging for individuals with cocaine addiction to achieve abstinence, the
greatest difficulty is avoiding relapse to drug taking, which is often triggered by cues …

High rates of relapse to drug use during abstinence is a defining feature of drug addiction. In
abstinent drug users, drug relapse is often precipitated by acute exposure to the self …

This review focuses on cocaine-induced postsynaptic plasticity in the nucleus accumbens
(NAc) involving changes in AMPA receptor (AMPAR) transmission. First, fundamental …

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has been found to play roles in many types of
plasticity including drug addiction. Here, we focus on rodent studies over the past two …

Activation of medium spiny neurons (MSNs) of the nucleus accumbens is critical for goal-
directed behaviors including cocaine seeking. Studies in cocaine-experienced rodents have …

Cue-induced cocaine craving is a major cause of relapse in abstinent addicts. In rats, cue-
induced craving progressively intensifies (incubates) during withdrawal from extended …

Cue-induced cocaine craving in rodents intensifies or “incubates” during the first months of
withdrawal from long access cocaine self-administration. This incubation phenomenon is …

Since its rediscovery at the beginning of the 21st Century, memory reconsolidation has been
proposed to be a therapeutic target for reducing the impact of emotional memories that can …

Background The incubation of cue-induced drug craving in rodents provides a model of
persistent vulnerability to craving and relapse in human addicts. After prolonged withdrawal …

Interest for the use of oxytocin as a treatment for addiction began over 40 years ago. Better
known for its roles in parturition, lactation and pair bonding, oxytocin also has anxiolytic …