Rationale and objectives: Repeated exposure to many drugs of abuse results in a
progressive and enduring enhancement in the motor stimulant effect elicited by a …

In this review we discuss the evidence that drug addiction, defined as a maladaptive
compulsive habit, results from the progressive subversion by addictive drugs of striatum …

Drug addiction is a neuropsychiatric disorder with grave personal consequences that has an
extraordinary global economic impact. Despite decades of research, the options available to …

Nicotine reinforces smoking behavior by activating nicotinic acetylcholine receptors
(nAChRs) in the midbrain dopaminergic (DA) reward centers, including the ventral …

A single nicotine exposure increases dopamine levels in the mesolimbic reward system for
hours, but nicotine concentrations experienced by smokers desensitize nAChRs on …

Many drugs of abuse exert their addictive effects by increasing extracellular dopamine in the
nucleus accumbens, where they likely alter the plasticity of corticostriatal glutamatergic …

Animal modeling has been instrumental in dissecting pathophysiological mechanisms and
designing more effective therapies in many areas of medicine but not so in psychiatry. The …

The tragic health effects of nicotine addiction highlight the importance of investigating the
cellular mechanisms of this complex behavioral phenomenon. The chain of cause and effect …

The use of cocaine by heroin‐dependent individuals, or by patients in methadone or
buprenorphine maintenance treatment, is substantial and has negative consequences on …

Individual memories are often linked so that the recall of one triggers the recall of another.
For example, contextual memories acquired close in time can be linked, and this is known to …