title: Glutamate-dopamine cotransmission and reward processing in addiction.
abstract: While Dale's principle of "one neuron, one neurotransmitter" has undergone revisions to incorporate evidence of the corelease of atypical neurotransmitters such as neuropeptides, the corelease of classical neurotransmitters has only recently been realized. Surprisingly, numerous studies now indicate that the corelease of neurotransmitters in the mammalian central nervous system is not an obscure and rare phenomenon but is widespread and involves most classical neurotransmitters systems. However, the suggestion that glutamate can be coreleased with dopamine (DA) has remained controversial. Furthermore, glutamate-DA cotransmission has not yet been seriously considered in the context of the neurocircuitry of addiction. If glutamate is in fact coreleased with DA as some evidence now suggests, this may have significant implications for advancing our understanding of the interactive role that these 2 neurotransmitters play in cognitive and reward processes. In this commentary, we review the evidence for and against glutamate as a cotransmitter and discuss the potential role of glutamate-DA corelease in addiction. In particular, we describe a recently proposed model in which coreleased glutamate transmits a temporally precise prediction error signal of reward described by Schultz et al., whereas the function of coreleased DA is to exert prolonged modulatory influences on neuronal activity. In addition, we suggest that as alcohol consumption transitions from recreational use to addiction, there is a corresponding transition in the reward valence signal from better than predicted to worse than predicted.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosciences and the Center for Drug and Alcohol Programs, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina 29425, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Lapish
authors.forename: Jeremy K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Seamans
authors.forename: L Judson
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Chandler
mesh_terms: D000437:Alcoholism / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000818:Animals; D003463:Cues; D004298:Dopamine / Q000502:physiology*; D018698:Glutamic Acid / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D000882:Haplorhini; D006801:Humans; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology; D012201:Reward; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000502:physiology*; D017557:Ventral Tegmental Area / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D050496:Vesicular Glutamate Transport Proteins / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D050496:Vesicular Glutamate Transport Proteins; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D004298:Dopamine