Studying the hedonic or pleasurable effects of a drug is essential for understanding the
mechanisms that cause the development of drug addiction. However, it is a complex matter …

The treatment for cocaine use constitutes a clinical challenge because of the lack of
appropriate therapies and the high rate of relapse. Recent evidence indicates that the …

Social stress in adulthood enhances cocaine self‐administration, an effect that has been
related with an increase in extracellular signal‐regulated kinase and p38α mitogen …

Ultrasonic vocalization (USV) in the 50-kHz range occurs in rats immediately upon first-time
exposure to cocaine or amphetamine, and rapidly increases with repetitive drug exposure at …

Cocaine use leads to addiction in only a subset of individuals. Understanding the
mechanisms underlying these individual differences in the transition from cocaine use to …

The neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT) plays a critical role in the regulation of social and
emotional behaviors. OXT plays a role in stress response and in drug reward, but to date no …

The experience of social stress during adolescence is associated with higher vulnerability to
drug use. Increases in the acquisition of cocaine self-administration, in the escalation of …

Stressful experiences modify activity in areas of the brain involved in the rewarding effects of
psychostimulants. In the present study we evaluated the influence of acute social defeat …

Drug-seeking behavior is maintained by encounters with drug-associated cues. Preventing
retrieval of drug-associated memories that these cues provoke would therefore limit relapse …

Relapse in the seeking and intake of cocaine is one of the main challenges when treating its
addiction. Among the triggering factors for the recurrence of cocaine use are the re-exposure …