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The neurocircuitry of addiction: an overview
Author(s) -
Feltenstein M W,
See R E
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
british journal of pharmacology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.432
H-Index - 211
eISSN - 1476-5381
pISSN - 0007-1188
DOI - 10.1038/bjp.2008.51
Subject(s) - addiction , ventral tegmental area , nucleus accumbens , neuroscience , psychology , prefrontal cortex , dopaminergic , glutamatergic , amygdala , substance abuse , drug , psychiatry , medicine , dopamine , cognition , glutamate receptor , receptor
Drug addiction presents as a chronic relapsing disorder characterized by persistent drug‐seeking and drug‐taking behaviours. Given the significant detrimental effects of this disease both socially and economically, a considerable amount of research has been dedicated to understanding a number of issues in addiction, including behavioural and neuropharmacological factors that contribute to the development, loss of control and persistence of compulsive addictive behaviours. In this review, we will give a broad overview of various theories of addiction, animal models of addiction and relapse, drugs of abuse, and the neurobiology of drug dependence and relapse. Although drugs of abuse possess diverse neuropharmacological profiles, activation of the mesocorticolimbic system, particularly the ventral tegmental area, nucleus accumbens, amygdala and prefrontal cortex via dopaminergic and glutamatergic pathways, constitutes a common pathway by which various drugs of abuse mediate their acute reinforcing effects. However, long‐term neuroadaptations in this circuitry likely underlie the transition to drug dependence and cycles of relapse. As further elucidated in more comprehensive reviews of various subtopics on addiction in later sections of this special issue, it is anticipated that continued basic neuroscience research will aid in the development of effective therapeutic interventions for the long‐term treatment of drug‐dependent individuals. British Journal of Pharmacology (2008) 154 , 261–274; doi: 10.1038/bjp.2008.51 ; published online 3 March 2008

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