Alcohol use disorders consist of disorders characterised by compulsive heavy alcohol use
and loss of control over alcohol intake. Alcohol use disorders are some of the most prevalent …

There is increasing evidence in humans and laboratory animals for biologically based sex
differences in every phase of drug addiction: acute reinforcing effects, transition from …

Migraine is a common, chronic, disorder that is typically characterized by recurrent disabling
attacks of headache and accompanying symptoms, including aura. The aetiology is …

The κ-opioid receptor (KOP) mediates the actions of opioids with hallucinogenic, dysphoric,
and analgesic activities. The design of KOP analgesics devoid of hallucinatory and …

Mood disorders are common and debilitating conditions characterized in part by profound
deficits in reward-related behavioural domains. A recent literature has identified important …

The ventral tegmental area dopamine (VTA-DA) mesolimbic circuit processes emotional,
motivational, and social reward associations together with their more demanding cognitive …

In human addicts, drug relapse and craving are often provoked by stress. Since 1995, this
clinical scenario has been studied using a rat model of stress-induced reinstatement of drug …

Opioid receptors have been targeted for the treatment of pain and related disorders for
thousands of years, and remain the most widely used analgesics in the clinic. Mu (μ), kappa …

Chronic social isolation causes severe psychological effects in humans, but their neural
bases remain poorly understood. 2 weeks (but not 24 hr) of social isolation stress (SIS) …

The nucleus accumbens (NAc) and the dynorphinergic system are widely implicated in
motivated behaviors. Prior studies have shown that activation of the dynorphin-kappa opioid …