A role for glutamate transmission in addiction to psychostimulants.
Abstract Psychostimulant addiction results in the emergence of undesirable behaviors such as drug craving and paranoia. Using animal models of addiction the neurobiological substrates mediating these behaviors have been examined. Studies have focused on cellular adaptations within the motive circuit that contains the nucleus accumbens, ventral tegmental area, ventral pallidum and prefrontal cortex. While long-term alterations in dopamine transmission have been clearly characterized, more recent studies reveal that important neuroadaptations are also produced in glutamate transmission.This short review provides a description of these neuroadaptations and a discussion of how these psychostimulant-induced changes may synergize to elicit addiction-related behaviors.
Kalivas
P W
PW
Department of Physiology and Neuroscience, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA.