Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2012 Nov 12:5:99.
doi: 10.3389/fnmol.2012.00099. eCollection 2012.

Neuroplasticity in addiction: cellular and transcriptional perspectives

Heather B Madsen  1 , Robyn M Brown, Andrew J Lawrence
Affiliations

Neuroplasticity in addiction: cellular and transcriptional perspectives

Heather B Madsen et al. Front Mol Neurosci. .

Abstract

Drug addiction is a chronic, relapsing brain disorder which consists of compulsive patterns of drug-seeking and taking that occurs at the expense of other activities. The transition from casual to compulsive drug use and the enduring propensity to relapse is thought to be underpinned by long-lasting neuroadaptations in specific brain circuitry, analogous to those that underlie long-term memory formation. Research spanning the last two decades has made great progress in identifying cellular and molecular mechanisms that contribute to drug-induced changes in plasticity and behavior. Alterations in synaptic transmission within the mesocorticolimbic and corticostriatal pathways, and changes in the transcriptional potential of cells by epigenetic mechanisms are two important means by which drugs of abuse can induce lasting changes in behavior. In this review we provide a summary of more recent research that has furthered our understanding of drug-induced neuroplastic changes both at the level of the synapse, and on a transcriptional level, and how these changes may relate to the human disease of addiction.

Keywords: CREB; DNA methylation; addiction; deltaFosB; epigenetics; histone modification; microRNAs; plasticity.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Abraham W. C., Bear M. F. (1996). Metaplasticity: the plasticity of synaptic plasticity. Trends Neurosci. 19, 126–130 10.1007/978-3-540-88955-7_6 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ahmed S. H. (2012). The science of making drug-addicted animals. Neuroscience 211, 107–125 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2011.08.014 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ahmed S. H., Koob G. F. (1998). Transition from moderate to excessive drug intake: change in hedonic set point. Science 282, 298–300 10.1126/science.282.5387.298 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Amen S. L., Piacentine L. B., Ahmad M. E., Li S.-J., Mantsch J. R., Risinger R. C., et al. (2011). Repeated N-acetyl cysteine reduces cocaine seeking in rodents and craving in cocaine-dependent humans. Neuropsychopharmacology 36, 871–878 10.1038/npp.2010.226 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Argilli E., Sibley D. R., Malenka R. C., England P. M., Bonci A. (2008). Mechanism and time course of cocaine-induced long-term potentiation in the ventral tegmental area. J. Neurosci. 28, 9092–9100 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1001-08.2008 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources