Critical features of human addiction are increasingly being incorporated into complementary
animal models, including escalation of drug intake, punished drug seeking and taking …

Addictive drugs have in common that they target the mesocorticolimbic dopamine (DA)
system. This system originates in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and projects mainly to the …

Sex/gender effects have been demonstrated for multiple aspects of addiction, with one of the
most commonly cited examples being the “telescoping effect” where women meet criteria …

Physical activity, and specifically exercise, has been suggested as a potential treatment for
drug addiction. In this review, we discuss clinical and preclinical evidence for the efficacy of …

Several neuropsychological hypotheses have been formulated to explain the transition to
addiction, including hedonic allostasis, incentive salience, and the development of habits. A …

In standard drug self-administration settings, animals have no choice than drug use. As a
result, serious doubt exists about the interpretation of drug use in experimental animals. Is it …

Research involving animal models of drug addiction can be viewed as a sort of reverse
psychiatry. Contrary to clinicians who seek to treat addicted people to become and remain …

In animal models of drug addiction, cocaine exposure has been shown to increase levels of
calcium-permeable AMPA receptors (CP-AMPARs) in two brain regions that are critical for …

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 …

Addictive drugs remodel the brain's reward circuitry, the mesocorticolimbic dopamine (DA)
system, by inducing widespread adaptations of glutamatergic synapses. This drug-induced …