Dopamine (DA) regulates emotional and motivational behavior through the mesolimbic
dopaminergic pathway. Changes in DA mesolimbic neurotransmission have been found to …

We present a brief overview of the incentive sensitization theory of addiction. This posits that
addiction is caused primarily by drug-induced sensitization in the brain mesocorticolimbic …

Repeated exposure to drugs of abuse enhances the motor-stimulant response to these
drugs, a phenomenon termed behavioral sensitization. Animals that are extinguished from …

Rational and objectives. The reinstatement model is currently used in many laboratories to
investigate mechanisms underlying relapse to drug seeking. Here, we review briefly the …

The relative contributions of glutamate and dopamine within the nucleus accumbens to
cocaine-induced reinstatement of drug-seeking behavior were assessed. When …

The objective of this article is to review data from studies that used a reinstatement model in
rats to elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying relapse to heroin and cocaine seeking …

Evidence that psychoactive substance use disorders, bulimia nervosa, pathological
gambling, and sexual addiction share an underlying biopsychological process is …

Psychostimulant drugs like amphetamine are readily self-administered by humans and
laboratory animals by virtue of their actions on dopamine (DA) neurons in the midbrain …

Drug dependence is a chronic, relapsing disorder in which compulsive drug-seeking and
drug-taking behaviours persist despite serious negative consequences. Addictive …

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